Matthew Schaefer Sets New Overtime Ice Time Record

The New York Islanders knocked off the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night inside Bridgestone Arena. They did so via the shootout, and it became their first win in Nashville since 2017.

The Islanders nearly won it in overtime, with Matthew Schaefer ringing it off the post on an overtime man advantage.

Before overtime, Schaefer set up Bo Horvat for a gorgeous goal in the second period.

That assist extended Schaefer's point streak to five games (two goals, three assists) and put him tied with Scott Stevens for the sixth-most points by a teenage defenseman in NHL history, with 70.

Schaefer also did something beyond incredible Tuesday night.

The 19-year-old defenseman played the entirety of Tuesday's overtime period. Every last second of those five minutes?

Schaefer was there.

He is the first player to do so since time on ice became a recorded stat, which dates back to 2009-10.

Simon Holmstrom and Bo Horvat, meanwhile, both checked into the league's top 10 in ice time following their 4+ minutes on ice in the extra frame:

Schaefer also set a career high in ice time, playing 32:16 out of the 65 minutes, in other words, roughly 50% of the game.

The kid is incredible, and when you dig deeper into his shifts and actual on-ice stats, it just gets all the more absurd.

Per Stefen Rosner & The Elmonters on Wednesday Morning:

"According to the NHL’s official time-on-ice report, Schaefer logged 32:16 across 29 shifts, averaging 1:06 per shift, the longest average on the Islanders. He played 6:09 more than the next-closest skater, Nashville captain Roman Josi (26:07), while Horvat led the rest of the Islanders at 26:04.

"Schaefer played 8:23 in the first period, 9:49 in the second, and 9:04 in the third before playing all five minutes of overtime. Of his 29 shifts, 15 lasted at least a minute, including a 1:53 shift in the second period, his longest of regulation.

"And while DeBoer leaned heavily on Schaefer, every second of his ice time came at even strength (25:57) or on the power play (6:19). He didn’t play a single second on the penalty kill, which is a positive."

Schaefer's overtime efforts can be summed up by one unbelievable clip.

You'd excuse the kid if he had run out of energy after the long length of his shifts and overall ice time.

Heck, even if it wasn't energy, maybe the wherewithal to immediately pull out of the offensive zone as Nashville, with a penalty expiring, cleared the zone.

Not for Schaefer. Schaefer is just way, way too good for any of that.

Instead, he flies back through the neutral zone and coolly strips Filip Forsberg, one of the best players in the NHL, and moves on with his shift.

Schaefer makes the impossible possible on a regular basis, it's incredibly easy to take it for granted.

The Islanders visit the Minnesota Wild Thursday night, closing off this three-game road trip.