Matthew Schaefer’s overtime goal propels Islanders to comeback win over Maple Leafs
NY Post
As if Matthew Schaefer’s rocket-fueled rookie season needed another signature moment, here it came Saturday night. The 18-year-old spent all day feeling under the weather, then took a shot to the ribs in the third period that sent him to the tunnel, thinking he might’ve broken something.
Not only did he return within a few minutes feeling just fine. Schaefer proceeded to put a flagging Islanders team on his back, scoring a jaw-dropping goal to tie the game in the third period, then scoring an overtime winner to beat his hometown Maple Leafs 4-3 in front of a UBS Arena crowd that screamed itself hoarse chanting his name.
“I know my mom gave me a bit of strength throughout this game,” Schaefer said amid a throng of media in the postgame dressing room. “Just keep going and I know we got two big days off. Just gotta get some rest these next few days.”
The Islanders needed this third period, needed this win and needed it more than they would’ve liked to admit. They had lost two in three, but more alarming, the process hadn’t been there.
They knew it, the fans knew it, everyone watching the first two periods against the Maple Leafs on Saturday knew it. The Islanders trailed by just a 2-1 margin through 40 minutes, but the way things were going, it didn’t feel much better than the game they’d played in losing 7-2 to the Mammoth on New Year’s Day.
“I saw a few things like 1-on-3, try to beat their guys between the legs and stuff like this,” coach Patrick Roy said. “That’s not our hockey.”
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