This is what the Islanders\u2019 future looks like.<\/p>\n
Two goals from Matthew Schaefer, the second of which tied the game with 1:07 to go, set the table for Simon Holmstrom\u2019s game-winner just 29 seconds later as the Islanders pulled out a stunning 3-2 comeback victory over the Blue Jackets on Sunday night to take two points in regulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we battled so hard and I thought that was our game, all over the ice,\u201d Schaefer said in a contented postgame dressing room. \u201cThere\u2019s gonna be bad bounces, mistakes, penalties, but we fought really hard. We fought back and we got that one.\u201d<\/p>\n
This looked like a hockey game you\u2019ve seen before, a hockey game the Islanders have played before, one in which the Islanders dominate, convert too few of their chances and give two points away.<\/p>\n
Matthew Schaefer of the New York Islanders reacts after he scores a goal during the first period when the New York Islanders played the Columbus Blue Jackets Sunday, November 2, 2025. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
When Denton Mateychuk broke a 1-1 tie with 7:50 to go in regulation, putting the Blue Jackets ahead, it felt like an inevitability \u2014 hanging in the air since the Isles had outshot Columbus 18-3 in the first period while scoring just once \u2014 had just come to pass.<\/p>\n
These Islanders, though, don\u2019t know how to be jaded. They have youthful optimism in droves: the 18-year-old Schaefer, the 21-year-old Cal Ritchie, the 24-year-old Holmstrom and a lineup that tilted the ice all night at UBS in putting together a complete two-way effort that only paid off after 58:53 of knocking on the door.<\/p>\n
That was when, skating at six-on-five with Anders Lee creating havoc in front of the net, Schaefer\u2019s shot went off Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski\u2019s stick and beat Elvis Merzlikins to tie the game at two.<\/p>\n
Less than 30 seconds later, with Lee in front again, Holmstrom banged in the captain\u2019s rebound off a scramble in the crease to set the UBS crowd alight, give the Islanders two points in regulation and send the Blue Jackets home in utter disbelief.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot,\u201d Holmstrom said. \u201cI think it shows what type of group this is. It\u2019s a tight group. We never quit. We keep going until the whistle blows.\u201d<\/p>\n
The composition of the Islanders\u2019 lineup gave the win some extra symbolism.<\/p>\n
For the first time since Feb. 1, the night Mat Barzal hurt his kneecap, he started on the top line alongside Bo Horvat, allowing Cal Ritchie to start in his natural position at center on the second line between Jonathan Drouin and Kyle Palmieri.<\/p>\n
Islanders right wing Simon Holmstrom (10) celebrates his winning goal during the third period against Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
The only disruption to the Islanders\u2019 momentum over the course of the night came in the four penalties they took, all of which were killed off to make it a second straight perfect night on the PK. Otherwise, their biggest issue was Merzlikins, who made 36 saves, with Schaefer\u2019s power-play goal 5:53 into the match standing as his only blemish until late in the night.<\/p>\n