At some point, Matthew Schaefer’s standout debut season may see him break the team record for points by a rookie defenseman.
Of greater urgency for the New York Islanders is improving their position in a crowded Eastern Conference playoff race. The next chance for that occurs Saturday afternoon when the Islanders (41-27-5, 87 points) host the Florida Panthers in Elmont, N.Y.
Schaefer notched two assists in the Islanders’ 2-1 home win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday. He set up Bo Horvat’s team-leading 30th goal of the season at 4:48 of the first period and Calum Ritchie’s tally 2:19 into the third.
Those plays gave Schaefer 54 points (22 goals, 32 assists) in 73 games, tying Hall of Famer Denis Potvin for the second-most in team history by a rookie defenseman. Potvin had 54 in 1973-74, and his record stood until Stefan Persson finished with 56 in 1977-78.
Schaefer had two goals in his only three-point game on March 1 when the Islanders skated to a 5-4 home win over Florida. His latest multi-point effort occurred two nights after his team’s frustrating 4-3 home loss against the Chicago Blackhawks.
“Sometimes it might not be pretty the whole time,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said after playing 20:53 and blocking three shots in his return from a lower-body injury. “You just gotta work through it. I thought tonight we did a lot of that. Important blocks, important times of getting the puck out, getting the puck in. I thought the forecheck at times was really good, created a lot for us.”
The Islanders are 6-6-0 in their past 12 games since winning five straight from Feb. 3-March 1.
New York heads into Saturday holding the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot, one point behind the Boston Bruins for the first wild card.
Florida (35-33-3, 73 points) will play eight of its final 11 games against teams vying for postseason spots in the Eastern Conference. Aside from facing the Islanders, the Panthers face the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins twice along with games against the Montreal Canadiens, Bruins and Detroit Red Wings.
The Panthers are 2-4-0 in their past six games since winning three straight from March 6-10. On Thursday, Florida took one of its toughest losses of the season when it dropped a 3-2 decision to the visiting Minnesota Wild.
The Panthers allowed the first two goals in the second period before tying it on goals by Matthew Tkachuk and defenseman Aaron Ekblad in the third. Florida was five seconds away from getting to overtime before allowing a rebound goal to Joel Eriksson Ek.
The Panthers took the loss on a night in which they allowed 50 shots on goal and saw goalie Daniil Tarasov tie a career high with 47 saves.
“He was unreal, the best player on both teams tonight,” Tkachuk said of Tarasov. “I’m more frustrated that we lost for him because he put on an all-world effort for us tonight and kept us in the game. We wanted to reward him with finally playing a bit better in the third.”
The two-time defending champions have been beset by injuries this season, and on Thursday, Evan Rodrigues broke a finger and will be sidelined for the rest of the season. The Panthers recently lost Brad Marchand and Anton Lundell to injuries while Sam Reinhart has missed six straight games with a foot issue.
