It was looking to be a quiet night for Matthew Schaefer against the Utah Mammoth defense. Utah was holding Schaefer in check, only managing one shot on goal heading into overtime. He was playing tough hockey, leading the Islanders in time on ice despite awkwardly skating to the bench twice in pain, but Utah wasn’t allowing him to make an impact on the offense. But despite all of the adversity, it was Schaefer who handed Utah Mammoth its first overtime loss of the season — all while becoming the youngest player in NHL history to score a game-winning goal in the regular season. The lane opened for the Islanders when JJ Peterka decided to keep following New York’s Bo Horvat. Rather than switching with Lawson Crouse to pick up Schaefer, Peterka stayed behind Horvat. But when Nate Schmidt picked up Horvat, Peterka was left without a man to guard and on the wrong side of the ice. With the sudden opening, Matthew Barzal took advantage of the 2-on-1, passed to Schaefer, and history was made. "I think we knew we had better for sure," said Schaefer "In the second and third, we wanted to come out hard, and then we got a great bounce there to tie us up. Then we fought hard, and Barzzy (Barzal) found me. It was a great game and really hard fought." On his way to making history, Schaefer also overtook future Hall of Famer Sidney Crosby, who previously held the record. But Crosby was a whole 31 days older when he set it; Schaefer, on the other hand, earned the mark at just 18 years and 70 days. Never having a chance to possess the puck, the Mammoth were forced to keep covering the Islanders throughout overtime. Though Karel Vejmelka was able to save the first two shot attempts, Utah still was never able to get its own shot at scoring. "So, yeah, when you don't have the puck, it's all about coverage, communication, and making sure you're not getting tested," said Crouse. "Obviously, they're two great players. I mean, Horvat's got one of the better sticks in the league right now, and Barzal has incredible speed and skill and incredible passing and vision. So yeah, it's unfortunate." Before the game even got to overtime, the Mammoth looked like it was in firm control of the game, leading 2–1 halfway through the third. But like in its 4–2 loss to Ottawa, Utah would find itself on the wrong end of yet another controversial call. Rather than Utah having its own goal disallowed, like in the Ottawa game, this time an Islanders goal from forward Jonathan Drouin was allowed to stand despite him clearly kicking the puck toward the net. In most cases, any time a puck is scored with a kicking motion, the goal is disallowed. But as explained in the NHL's own video review [https://www.nhl.com/news/new-york-islanders-utah-mammoth-video-review-period-3], Schmidt was seen touching the puck just before it crossed the goal line and it was deemed that his "stick propelled the puck into his own net." The NHL does acknowledge that Drouin does indeed kick the puck as well, but because the puck touched Schmidt’s stick, the goal was still allowed to stand. "It's an instinctual thing," said Schmidt. "In hindsight, do I wish I would have pulled my stick back so they would have called it back? Yeah, but that's gonna be really hard for me to do. You're trying to get it out then I almost step on Vejmelka in the process." While the goal was allowed to stand in this game, there is still a compelling argument that says the goal should have been disallowed. As rule 37.4 of the NHL's official rules stats, "A goal cannot be scored on a play where an attacking Player propels the puck with his skate into the net (even by means of a subsequent deflection off of another Player) using a 'distinct kicking motion.'" When watching the replay, it’s clear that Schmidt’s stick only touches the puck for a brief second. He never gains possession, and the puck hardly alters its path even after touching his stick. Saying Schmidt propelled the puck in feels like a bit of a stretch considering the path of the puck never changes direction. Ironically, if Schmidt hadn’t touched the puck at all, the goal would have been disallowed without a second thought. But instead, Utah found itself tied at 2–2, with the referees’ call proving to be costly. Though the Mammoth still came away with a point in the standings, it was a tough way to lose, considering it has only managed two wins against the Buffalo Sabres in its last eight games. To make matters worse, Utah looked like the better team for the majority of the night, albeit with another rough performance on the power play, going 1-for-6. But even then, Utah was able to break a seven-game drought without a power-play goal. And with its next game against an impressive Anaheim Ducks team on the road, Utah will have to fight hard to get out of its recent funk.
