Islanders score twice late to upend Blue Jackets

ELMONT, N.Y. -- The New York Islanders scored goals 29 seconds apart in the final 1:07 of the third period to rally past the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 at UBS Arena on Sunday.

Matthew Schaefer tied it 2-2 at 18:53 on a point shot with goalie David Rittich pulled for an extra attacker for his second goal of the game. Simon Holmstrom then tapped home a rebound off Anders Lee's shot at the top of the crease 29 seconds later at 19:22 to make it 3-2.

“We really grinded them out there,” Schaefer said. “That was a big shift out of the guys. Wow. I mean, it’s fun hockey to play and fun hockey to watch too, when your team goes to work and [gets] a couple of big goals there, and, you know, the last minute. So that was fun to watch and fun to play.”

It was the first two-goal game in the League for Schaefer, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft who was named NHL Rookie of the Month for October. Schaefer (18 years, 58 days) became the youngest defenseman in NHL history with a multigoal game, besting Bobby Orr (18 years, 248 days on Nov. 23, 1966).

“It’s been fun to watch, to say the least,” Holmstrom said. “He’s a great skater, he’s super-poised with the puck and he was able to score two big goals for us tonight.”

Rittich made 20 saves for the Islanders (6-5-1), who have won two in a row following a three-game losing streak.

“We had a strong 60-minute [effort],” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “Our first period was really solid. We had a lot of chances. Their goalie was really good. He made some great saves and kept the game where it was, and I thought in the third, we showed character. We showed that we were resilient by tying the goal and then scoring right after. What impressed me the most was that we were putting pressure on them from the start to the end, and that there was no letdown. We kept going at them.”

Miles Wood and Denton Mateychuk scored for the Blue Jackets (7-5-0), who split their back-to-back after they won 3-2 against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Elvis Merzlikins made 38 saves.

“We didn't have our legs for whatever reason,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “Obviously, we played last night and what have you, but they got the jump on us. We knew that they'd come out hard. Elvis obviously played great in the first period and kept us in it, giving us a chance. And then in the second period, we got our legs going, and we played really well for the rest of the game.”

Schaefer gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 5:53 of the first period on the power play, beating Merzlikins over the glove through a screen from the point.

Wood tied the game 1-1 when he tapped home a cross-zone pass from Adam Fantilli at the blocker side post at 15:21 of the second period.

After a ricochet in front of the goal, Mateychuk beat a sprawling Rittich on the backhand, cutting across the slot at 12:10 of the third period to give the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead.

“Our first period wasn't up to our standard at all,” Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner said. “We talked about it between periods. We got a lot better than that. Obviously, the second was much better and more like us, and we came out in the third the same kind of way. We get that one, but we just can’t let that happen at the end.”

NOTES: The Islanders’ comeback win with 1:07 to play in regulation (58:53 elapsed time) was the latest comeback win in regulation in franchise history. Their only other comeback win in the final two minutes of regulation occurred on March 28, 2019 (58:14). … Schaefer became the third-youngest player in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to record two goals in a game. Only Jordan Staal (18 years, 41 days on Oct. 21, 2006) and Pierre Turgeon (18 years, 54 days on Oct. 21, 1987) did so at a younger age.