{"id":593919,"date":"2026-04-10T03:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/593919\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T03:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:23:08","slug":"new-york-islanders-matthew-schaefer-ties-nhl-rookie-defenseman-goals-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/593919\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Islanders’ Matthew Schaefer ties NHL rookie defenseman goals record"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Matthew Schaefer<\/a> of the New York Islanders<\/a> tied the NHL record for goals by a rookie defenseman, scoring his 23rd of the season Thursday night to match Hall of Famer Brian Lee<\/a>tch\u2019s mark.<\/p>\n

Schaefer\u2019s record-tying goal came at 9:39 of the second period and gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> as New York went on to win 5-3. Schaefer beat goaltender Artur Akhtyamov<\/a> through the legs following a pass from Tony DeAngelo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy. You don\u2019t really think about that stuff,\u201d Schaefer said when asked how it feels to be mentioned alongside Leetch. \u201cBut obviously when it gets brought up it\u2019s crazy to think. It\u2019s definitely an honor to see some of those guys and what they\u2019ve done.\u201d <\/p>\n

Schaefer, 18, continues to deliver one of the most remarkable rookie seasons by a player at his position in league history. He ranks second on the Islanders with 59 points, showcasing elite offensive ability from the blue line.<\/p>\n

The goal was his first since March 21 against Montreal, ending a brief drought while adding another milestone to his growing resume.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatching him from the bench, live, it\u2019s just, wow, what a player,\u201d Peter DeBoer said of Schaefer after his first game as the Islanders\u2019 coach. \u201cI watched him a lot on video as we were scouting for the Olympics. To see him live like that, at the age he\u2019s at, and how dynamic he is, both ends of the rink, defensively, in particular. I know the offensive stuff, but for a young player how defensively aware he is and how much he works at the defensive piece of the game too. He\u2019s a really, really special player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selected first in the draft last year, Schaefer entered the league following an injury-shortened junior season but quickly made an impact. He became the youngest defenseman in NHL history to record a point in his debut and has since set multiple age-based records.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now one away from passing Leetch, who set the record in 1988-89 and won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. Schaefer is the front-runner for the same honor.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/p>\n

Scott Charles, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Matthew Schaefer of the New York Islanders tied the NHL record for goals by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-593919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}