Islanders playing with energy, bravado on track to Stanley Cup Playoffs

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. -- For a quick moment, Mathew Barzal envisioned himself as a hockey fan growing up on Long Island, as the kid excited about his hometown team, blown away by what he's seen from the special 18-year-old wearing No. 48, and the energy inside a 4 1/2-year-old state-of-the-art arena next to Belmont Park just off the Cross Island Parkway.

"If I was living here right now and I was a hockey fan, this is the game I would want to be at," Barzal said.

Barzal is instead 28 years old and approaching his 600th NHL game, all with the New York Islanders (596 and counting). He's been around for nine years and has called three buildings home. He's been to the Eastern Conference Final twice. He is experienced in the community of Islanders hockey, the joy and the quiet.

The joy is back this season. The crowds and the noise at UBS Arena with it.

The Islanders (38-24-5) are tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for second in the Metropolitan Division and in position to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs after missing them last season, only to then land the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and the opportunity to select defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who has been a gamechanger for the franchise.

Schaefer, who is from Hamilton, Ontario, will play in Toronto for the first time when the Islanders visit the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, MSGSN). 

The next time the Islanders play at UBS Arena, against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, it will be their 15th consecutive sellout. 

"I don't care what you say or how people say it, culture just doesn't happen overnight," Barzal said. "You really have to develop it, and I think over the course of the last few years, especially this year, we've really found it. 'Patty's' (coach Patrick Roy) been preaching the same message since he's got here, whether we were in the playoffs or not -- not in the playoffs last year, in the playoffs the year before. The way things have gone this year, it's just been all about winning and consistency and details.

"I think another thing is, too: You think you're in a good locker room until you're in a good locker room. We've got a good locker room here is what I'm saying."

Barzal has been in the same room with a lot of the same players who are still there going back to New York's last time in the conference final in 2021, including goalie Ilya Sorokin, defensemen Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield and Adam Pelech, and forwards Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. 

So, he has experience in a good room and knows what it feels like and what it sounds like.

Those feelings and sounds are in the Islanders room, and a lot of them come from rookies like Schaefer and forward Calum Ritchie.

Schaefer is 18 years old and the favorite to win the Calder Trophy voted as the NHL rookie of the year. He's second on the Islanders with 20 goals and 48 points in 67 games. Ritchie is 21 and has 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in 50 games.

"It's just nice to have young blood in the room," said Barzal, the Islanders' leading scorer with 60 points. "Everything is just so brand new to them. To see that youth in them when they go into a new rink and their eyes open up, or they score a goal or get an assist -- like, I'm in my 600th game, done it before, so there are certain moments I get excited about, but man, you just watch their excitement. Watch Cal Ritchie on an assist or goal that we score, he is so fired up. 'Schaef' is so fired up no matter who scores. They are just so happy and excited to be in the NHL and that youthfulness I would say is the most contagious."

Schaefer has brought the most energy to the Islanders and their fan base. That's not even debatable at this point with the season he is having.

His No. 48 is all over UBS Arena and Long Island. New York sports talk radio stations have been talking about him. One host on WFAN even said Schaefer's name in the same breath as Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks, arguably the two biggest sports stars in New York right now.

"He is bubbling, that's for sure," Islanders center Bo Horvat said. "He walks in and he acts like an 18-year-old, which keeps us young, keeps the room light. He has a smile on his face every day. There's no bad days for him." 

Brayden Schenn, acquired by the Islanders in a trade with the St. Louis Blues on March 6, is 34 years old, a father of three, veteran of 1,087 NHL games and a 2019 Stanley Cup champion. He twice used the word "awesome" to describe how he felt meeting Schaefer and now getting to play with him.

"He's an incredible, incredible guy," Schenn said. "That's first and foremost what you can say about him. He really cares about his teammates. He really cares about the organization. He wants to win hockey games. People obviously see the skill and everything that he does on the ice, but it's more so how impressed I am with how he is as a guy off the ice."

Schaefer is also a big reason, though not the only reason, for why the Islanders this season have played with some bravado, which Roy thinks has been a big factor in their energy.

"This year, I just feel like we're playing more bold, maybe, than we were last year," Roy said. "We have that swagger. I love that confidence that we have. The biggest example is overtime. We've been playing so well in overtime, and we believe in ourselves so much. I feel like that's the biggest change for us."

The Islanders are 10-0 in games decided in overtime. They are tied with the San Jose Sharks for the most overtime wins this season. They are the only team in the League without an overtime loss.

They also have 18 comeback wins, tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for fifth in the NHL, including five from two goals down and eight when trailing in the third period. Only the Vegas Golden Knights, Anaheim Ducks and Montreal Canadiens have more third-period comeback wins.

"We don't quit," Schaefer said. "We want to keep building. We really believe what we've got going on in this room, and it's fun to be around."