{"id":207060,"date":"2025-10-12T04:51:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T04:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/207060\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T04:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T04:51:07","slug":"schaefer-gets-1st-nhl-goal-in-home-debut-with-islanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/207060\/","title":{"rendered":"Schaefer gets 1st NHL goal in home debut with Islanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

He raised his arms and leaped into the glass, much to the delight of the 17,255 in attendance who were watching the next face of the franchise playing a regular-season game in their barn for the first time. Schaefer had an assist in his NHL debut on Thursday, a 4-3 loss at the Pittsburgh Penguins.<\/p>\n

The Capitals challenged Schaefer\u2019s goal for a hand pass, but the call on the ice stood after video review determined the puck had gone off the arm of Islanders center Bo Horvat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chants of \u201cMatthew Schaefer\u201d ensued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we just had so much momentum and I just wanted to keep going,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201c[The review] takes a toll for sure. The fans are in it and there\u2019s a big, lengthy timeout. \u2026 But they made the right call for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson didn\u2019t agree. However, there was no argument from the Capitals\u2019 side about how special Schaefer could be in this League for a long time.<\/p>\n

“Yeah, me and [Washington defenseman John Carlson<\/a>] thought it was a hand pass, so that was on me for telling [coach Spencer Carbery] to challenge it,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cUnfortunately, I guess it wasn’t seen that way. That’s hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut credit to him for driving the paint when it got a little rough. He’s an exciting player and I’m excited to watch him.”<\/p>\n

Schaefer only turned 18 on Sept. 5 and is beginning adulthood without his mother, Jennifer, who died of breast cancer in February 2024, two months after his billet mother, Emily Matson, died in an apparent suicide while he was playing his first junior season with Erie of the Ontario Hockey League.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there are several longtime veterans in his new locker room he can lean on to discuss life on or off the ice, including one who also experienced loss as a teenager.<\/p>\n

Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock<\/a> was 15 when his younger brother, Brock, was killed in a car accident while they were on their way to watch their older brother Derrick\u2019s hockey game on March 29, 2010. Brock was 13.<\/p>\n

Ryan was also in the car but escaped serious injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually had a conversation the other night,\u201d Pulock said. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy how well he handles himself, you know? He\u2019s been through a lot. What I went through was a little different, but [also] kind of similar. It changes your life.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the way he carries himself, the way he talks about [his mother] and handles it, he\u2019s very impressive. That\u2019s really all I can about it is how impressive he is. He\u2019s battled through it and really just carrying on with obviously his mom in his thoughts. It takes a lot of strength; to be able to power through that and perform the way he\u2019s performed \u2026 it\u2019s very special. Nothing really fazes him. He\u2019s got confidence in his game. Off the ice, he\u2019s mature, he\u2019s humble. Just a good kid and a heck of a hockey player. It\u2019s been fun having him around and it\u2019s been fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

So has Schaefer\u2019s ability to already manage a heavy workload. He led all skaters on Saturday by playing 26:04, including 2:40 on the power play. He also had a game-high eight shots on goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He raised his arms and leaped into the glass, much to the delight of the 17,255 in attendance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-207060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}