The Carson Soucy Effect On Matthew Schaefer Through First Two Games

NEW YORK, NY -- New York Islanders defenseman Carson Soucy was brought in for a reason. It's not for his goal-scoring prowess, which was on display against his former team, the New York Rangers, on Thursday night in his return to Madison Square Garden.

The biggest reason was to stabilize the blue -- fewer question marks -- after Bridgeport Islanders' defensemen got their chance to show their worth.

But the other reason was that Soucy could step in on the penalty kill.

"He's an established NHL player, and he's a big presence," Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche said. "Those PK minutes, they're going to help us and maybe relieve some minutes from other players that you know play a lot of minutes."

Those two left-side defenseman who play a ton of minutes are rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer and Adam Pelech.

Since Alexander Romanov went down with his regular-season ending right shoulder injury, which required surgery on Nov. 18, Schaefer has filled in on the penalty kill.

While Schaefer showcased some strong work on the shorthanded unit -- he was on the ice for just one goal against in 40:31 PK minutes since Romanov went down -- he was playing a ton at 5-on-5.

He entered Wednesday's game averaging 17:29 minutes per game at 5-on-5 and 24:02 minutes in total. 

Well, in the Islanders' 5-2 win over the Rangers on Wednesday night, Schaefer played zero minutes on the penalty kill -- zero. Soucy played 47 seconds on the PK with the Rangers only taking two penalties in the game. 

On Thursday, Schaefer played 39 seconds on the penalty kill while Ryan Pulock was in the box, and unfortunately for the rookie, he was on the ice for a goal against.

Soucy played the other 2:09.  

Although Schaefer has still played a ton of minutes, 24:36 on Wednesday and 23:25 on Thursday, it's allowed head coach Patrick to play him more at 5-on-5, which has paid dividends.

For example:

Schaefer, who averaged 17:30 minutes at 5-on-5 through the first 52 games of the season, has played 19:38 minutes at 5-on-5 since Soucy's arrival. 

Soucy, who averaged 15:12 minutes at 5-on-5 with the Rangers, has averaged 13:36 through two games with Long Island. So, that's not much, but it's already more than any of the fill-ins averaged in total time on ice, outside of Cole McWard, who played three games.  

It's a small sample size, but so far, so good for the Islanders' defense corps. 

With Soucy taking PK time off of Schaefer's plate going forward, and the Olympic break is right around the corner, it's scary to think how fresh he will be when the regular season returns.