The last time a losing side was so grateful to be defeated, it was at Bunker Hill.
Islanders rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer talks grand expectations, late mother’s influence in candid chat with The Post If not for the worst embarrassment the Islanders have suffered in recent memory, Matthew Schaefer would have made his Battle of New York debut on Saturday.
The Islanders have allowed nine or more goals in a game 20 times in their history, and April 10 was their first time doing so in almost exactly 16 years. When all is said and done, it’s possible that no franchise in history will ever be so grateful to get embarrassed by their rivals on home ice.Matthew Schaefer reacts after scoring a goal during the second period of the Islanders’ Oct. 21 game against the Sharks.FanDuel promo code: Bet $5, get $150 in bonus bets if your bet wins for Islanders vs. Rangers With both teams clinging by a thread to playoff hopes, the loss set the table for the Islanders to be officially eliminated two days later in Philadelphia and marked an embarrassing low. With Ilya Sorokin out due to injury, backup goaltender Marcus Hogberg was pulled then amazingly put back in the game after Tristan Lennox let in a goal on the second shot he saw.Rangers fans took over the UBS Arena stands as their team swept the Islanders in the season series for the first time since 2003-04.Veterans such as Anders Lee, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock played one of the worst games of their respective careers.When both the Islanders and Rangers wrapped their seasons just over a week later, the Rangers finished three points ahead of the Isles in the standings, 85 points to 82.Had the Islanders spared themselves some humiliation and won that game, they would have finished with 84 points to the Rangers’ 83.The Islanders entered the draft lottery with odds of 3.5 percent as opposed to the Rangers’ 3.0 percent. Big whoop.Those two points the Islanders did not get, and that extra half-percent in the draft lottery odds that they had instead, might swing the Battle of New York for the next generation.And instead of dealing with a lack of lefty defenseman that’s seen them call up Matthew Robertson to play on their third pair, the Rangers would have the current Calder Trophy favorite. Instead of walking into his first general manager job with the No. 1 overall pick in hand, Mathieu Darche would have had to do his best with No. 12 overall, where the Flyers took Jack Nesbitt with the pick that had originally belonged to the Rangers before bouncing from Vancouver to Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. The optimism that surrounds the Islanders right now, even amid a middling 6-6-2 start, would be turned down by about 50 degrees. The connections that Schaefer already has built with the fan base on Long Island instead would have been on Broadway.Vividseats: Official Ticketing Partner of New York Post Matthew Schaefer reacts after scoring a goal during the second period of the Islanders' Oct. 21 game against the Sharks.
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