Matthew Schaefer kept adding to a night that already felt like it belonged to him, then finished it off 33 seconds into overtime to lift the New York Islanders past the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Thursday at Grand Casino Arena.
The rookie defenseman jumped into a 2-on-1 rush in the extra period, took the feed from Jean-Gabriel Pageau and snapped a wrist shot from the right face-off circle off the left post and in. It was Schaefer’s second goal of the game, and it capped a comeback that saw the Islanders erase deficits twice before finally closing it out.
“I was happy to get that one there,” Schaefer said. “'Pager' (Jean-Gabriel Pageau) made a nice play up, and 'Homer' (Simon Holmstrom) was going backside. So, I just took whatever’s given.
“You get a big win against a big team, and keep it rolling.”
Schaefer also picked up an assist, giving him another multi-point night in a performance that kept New York moving in the right direction. Bo Horvat and Adam Pelech also scored for the Islanders, who improved to 7-4-2 and are 3-1-1 in their past five games. Ilya Sorokin stopped 22 shots.
“Gutsy effort by our group,” New York coach Peter DeBoer said. “I thought we played a real complete game.
Didn’t beat ourselves. We put the puck in good places.
Both special teams were good. That’s a formula to give yourself a chance to win in a tough road building.”
The Islanders also cashed in once on two power-play chances, while Minnesota went 0-for-3.
Minnesota got goals from Quinn Hughes, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy, but the Wild’s three-game winning streak ended and they took their first home loss of the season, falling to 9-3-3 overall and 4-0-1 at home. Jesper Wallstedt made 22 saves.
“I don’t think it was the cleanest game from us,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “We stuck with it, came from behind, and that’s what I talked to the team about. We didn’t have our A game tonight, but we gave ourselves a chance to win the game.”
The Wild wasted no time getting on the board. Eriksson Ek scored just 27 seconds into the first period with a wrist shot from the high slot.
New York answered later in the period when Schaefer tied it 1-1 at 16:36, finishing a rebound after Emil Heineman’s shot.
The Islanders then grabbed their first lead early in the second. At 1:41, Horvat redirected Simon Holmstrom’s pass for a backdoor tip-in on the power play.
Schaefer’s assist on that goal also put him in a rare class. He became the sixth teenage defenseman in NHL history with 15 career multipoint games, joining Phil Housley (34), Ray Bourque (17), Larry Murphy (16), Rick Hampton (16) and Rasmus Dahlin (15).
"He's a heck of a player, for sure," Boldy said. "He showed it tonight.
I don't think we did a good enough job of slowing him down, making his life a little bit harder. But credit to him, he plays the game like he's been playing for 10, 15 years.
It's pretty fun to watch. Future is obviously pretty bright.
They're pretty lucky to have him over there."
Minnesota pulled even again late in the second when Hughes slipped through the right circle and beat Sorokin five-hole on a sharp-angle backhand at 17:21.
The Islanders went back in front midway through the third on Pelech’s point shot, which deflected off Michael McCarron’s left leg and changed direction before slipping past Wallstedt at 7:14.
But the Wild answered again. Boldy tied it 3-3 at 16:07 with a low snap shot from the left circle that slid between Sorokin’s pads. The sequence started when Schaefer turned the puck over by sending it along the glass out of the Islanders zone and to neutral ice, where Boldy took over and drove back in for the goal.
“I know (Schaefer) was upset about the third goal,” DeBoer said. “You could tell that he wanted to get it back for us.
Even before overtime started. That edge, competitiveness and edge he has to be a difference-maker is really rare.”
Schaefer’s overtime winner added to a growing list of milestones. He became the first teenage defenseman in NHL history with three career overtime goals, breaking a tie with Cam Fowler, who had two. His five career multigoal games also tied Phil Housley for the most by a teenage defenseman in NHL history.
He also matched his longest career point streak with eight points - four goals and four assists - over six games in 2025-26. Among Islanders teenagers, only Pat LaFontaine, Bryan Trottier, Tim Connolly and Brent Sutter have put together longer streaks.
There was one concern for New York: defenseman Ryan Pulock left early in the first period with an upper-body injury after two shifts. DeBoer did not have an update after the game.
Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov and Hughes all extended their point streaks to four games. Eriksson Ek has three goals and two assists, Kaprizov has three goals and four assists, and Hughes has two goals and five assists.
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