Matthew Schaefer starts strong, but Islanders wobble into clash vs. Oilers

Matthew Schaefer has made history throughout his first three NHL games.

The New York Islanders are hoping to avoid history in their fourth game.

The Islanders will look to snap their season-opening losing streak Thursday night, when they conclude a three-game homestand by hosting the Edmonton Oilers in Elmont, N.Y.

The Islanders have been off since Monday, when they fell to the Winnipeg Jets 5-2. The Oilers embarked upon a five-game road trip Tuesday by beating the New York Rangers 2-0.

Schaefer, who was selected first overall in June's draft, continued his emergence Monday by collecting a point for the third time in as many games and leading the Islanders in ice time for the second straight time. The 18-year-old played 26:35 Monday, the most ice time for a teenager in regulation game in franchise history and 31 seconds more than the previous mark, set by Schaefer in Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals.

Schaefer is the first NHL player to record at least 26 minutes of ice time in two of his first three games since Victor Hedman did so for the Tampa Bay Lightning in October 2009.

Schaefer is also the first Islanders defenseman to register a point in each of his first three games and the first defenseman picked No. 1 overall to do so in NHL history.

But Schaefer has been among the few bright spots for the Islanders, who have led for just 97 seconds this season while starting 0-3-0 for the second time in franchise history and the first time since 2009-10. New York has never been pointless through four games.

"It's hard," Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield said. "This is a hard league to climb back into when you're down. We've got to fix our mistakes. We've got to find a way."

The Oilers, who have won the Western Conference and fallen to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Finals in each of the last two seasons, are off to their best three-game start since 2021-22 despite collecting just eight goals. Edmonton's 876 goals over the previous three seasons were the most in the NHL.

Stuart Skinner, who authored a shutout Tuesday, and Calvin Pickard have combined to stop 44 of 45 shots in two games since the Oilers squandered a three-goal lead in a season-opening 4-3 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames on Oct. 8.

The Oilers were outshot 30-22 Tuesday, when they didn't ice the win until Adam Henrique scored an empty-netter with 1:08 left in the third. The 22 shots were the fewest in a victory for Edmonton since it had 20 shots in a 3-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Apr. 1.

"I think it's really good for just our morale in general, being able to fight one off, being able to battle, grind and win a game in a hard way," Skinner said Tuesday night. "That was a man's game out there and the way that the guys played, they deserved getting the two points tonight."

--Field Level Media