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.

Matthew Schaefer (48) scores off Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll (60) during the overtime period at UBS Arena, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Elmont, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

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.”

They had 20 minutes to flip the narrative on its head and that’s just what they did.

The Islanders had looked better right from the jump in the third. Tony DeAngelo hit the post, Simon Holmstrom sailed a tip barely wide, the Islanders cycled the puck and looked like a real threat to score. But the spark came — of course it came — from Schaefer.

Matthew Schaefer (48) scores off Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll (60) during the overtime period at UBS Arena, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Elmont, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

He produced a moment of utter brilliance, skating past three defenders, cutting to the net and scoring to tie the game at two at 11:10 of the third in a highlight that will be played for the rest of his career.

The Maple Leafs retook the lead just 1:02 later when Emil Heineman lost Nicholas Robertson in front, giving the winger clearance to deposit the puck in the net for a 3-2 lead, but the tone and tenor of the night had inexorably changed.

Heineman’s right-circle one-timer from Mathew Barzal tied the game back at three at the 17:15 mark, marking the first time since Dec. 11 the Islanders have scored three times in a game.

Then with overtime winding down, Barzal found Schaefer as the trailer on a 2-on-1 and the defenseman ripped it in. There were 48.1 seconds left on the clock.

Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) scores off Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll (60) during the overtime period. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

“The first [goal], I just wanted to gain speed and my dad always tells me to drive the net there and beat him wide instead of trying to dipsy-doodle in the middle and getting the puck taken off me,” Schaefer said. “… Second one was all Barzal.”

So it was both parents finding a way to help their kid put on a show that was on national TV back home.

“When you’re not feeling at your best, I know my mom’s gonna have my back no matter what,” Schaefer said. “She’s a strong woman, she did a lot of things for me and my brother, she was a big role model for me.

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“I wish I was as strong as her, but I will never be, because moms are the strongest people around. She definitely gave me a little bit of that strength tonight.”

There were plenty of problems for the Islanders to dissect through 40 minutes, stretching far beyond the absence of Bo Horvat with a lower-body injury.

They lost battles, struggled to generate any offense of note and twice let Auston Matthews get free to tie and break the Maple Leafs franchise scoring record some 18 years after Mats Sundin had passed Darryl Sittler against the Islanders.

Like seemingly everything else about these Islanders, though, it all came back to Schaefer, who turned a night of frustration into a win to remember.

“I love this place,” Schaefer said, and maybe it meant a bit more on a night where John Tavares endured his annual round of boos as a member of the visiting team. “The fans make you feel at home when they’re chanting your name and getting fired up. I just want to stay out there and get the fans fired up. Big win for us, big two points for the team.”