Islanders get into heated scuffle with Bruins after Nikita Zadorov knocks down Matthew Schaefer

The Islanders want to put the rest of the league on notice: 

Do. Not. Touch. The. Kid. 

Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov learned that lesson during the second period of Tuesday’s 4-3 Islanders shootout loss to Boston at UBS Arena, when he knocked down Matthew Schaefer behind Boston’s goal. He was promptly greeted by Anders Lee, Anthony Duclair and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, all of whom attempted to tackle him at once. 

“We’re family in here,” Schaefer said. “I love these guys. I know they always have my back and I’ll always have their back. Obviously it means a lot.” 

Once the fracas was sorted out, Lee and Duclair had taken roughing penalties, but the Islanders ended up on the power play, with Zadorov being handed an interference and a double-minor for roughing. 

Mess with Schaefer, and the entire team starts foaming at the mouth to hunt you down

These New York Islanders got some fire in ‘em

“I felt like the referee had a lot of choices,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said, sardonically. “Could have called cross-check, could have called roughing, could have called interference. Pretty much, might’ve been able to have a four-minute power play.” 

More important to the Islanders, though, is protecting the 18-year-old rookie who is the franchise’s crown jewel. Schaefer’s almost immediate ascendence into one of the best Islanders players combined with his very young age of 18 make him an obvious target for opposing malfeasance. 

“Eventually, he’s gonna have the same protection as a star player,” Roy said. 

How long might that take? 

“I hope not too long,” he answered. 

Indeed, the Bruins are not the first team to try to intimidate Schaefer via some extra physicality. Every time an opposing player has tried to hit Schaefer, the Islanders have responded similarly, though this was perhaps the most enthusiastic instance. 

“It’s no different than any other star player,” Duclair said. “You want to slow down the best players on each team. We do the same with their star players, whoever we’re playing. 

“Obviously, Schaef coming into this league, the way he’s playing, obviously teams are gonna look at that and try to slow him down. I think for us, it’s doing our best to protect him out there and let him do his thing.” 

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Bo Horvat scored two more goals, bringing his season total to nine, with Team Canada assistant general manager Don Sweeney on hand in his capacity as Bruins general manager.

Horvat also scored in front of Sweeney and Canada general manager Doug Armstrong last Friday in Washington, and had a hat trick with AGM Julien BriseBois watching in mid-October against Edmonton.