Schaefer Strikes Twice as Islanders Spoil Wild's Perfect Home Mark
The Islanders won 4-3 in overtime in Minnesota. The win wasn't luck: New York had the better looks for most of the night, and the scoreboard could have been kinder to them.
On shots and attempts, the game was close to even. New York outshot the Wild 26-25, while Minnesota had slightly more total shot attempts, 59-57. The real gap was in chance quality. New York's expected goals, a measure of how many goals its chances were worth, came to 2.86, against 2.29 for Minnesota.
The Islanders also hit the iron three times, with Bo Horvat, Adam Pelech and Logan Stanley each ringing a post or the crossbar. Pelech still scored once, and Horvat scored as well.
The standout was Matthew Schaefer. The defenceman, paired with Pelech, had two goals and an assist on six shots in 30 minutes of ice time. Quinn Hughes answered for Minnesota with a goal and an assist in nearly 34 minutes.
Neither goalie stole this game. Jesper Wallstedt stopped 22 of 26, and Ilya Sorokin stopped 22 of 25. Both gave up a bit more than the chances against them warranted.
The result ends the Wild's unbeaten start at home. For New York, now 6-4-2, it's a second road win, and it came against the Central Division leaders.
