RALEIGH, N.C. — There he was Friday night as the third period wound down. Still skating hard, still diving to get his stick on the puck, still blocking shots.
By unofficial count, Matthew Schaefer stopped no fewer than three empty-net goals in the final minutes of the Islanders’ 4-1 loss to the Flyers, the game well out of hand. You can add in his clearance off the line in the second period after the puck went behind Ilya Sorokin too and make it four saves on the evening.
This was not a great night for the 18-year-old, a minus-3 across 28:43 of ice and unable to get the power play going. Still, there were moments — plural — in which you could not help but shake your head and appreciate what he was doing, even with a mess of an Islanders performance playing out.
This is not to tell you what you already know, that Schaefer is having an incredibly special rookie season and will surely soon win the Calder Trophy. It is to say that the Islanders cannot waste this — this season, this moment, this once-in-a-generation supernova — by failing to make the playoffs, which now seems a distinct possibility.
