LOS ANGELES — When I spoke with New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal early in the season, I asked him about what it was like playing with No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer.
“It’s been pretty natural so far, just reading off each other. I want to give him the puck, and I think when we get dancing, we’re pretty dangerous.”
Flash-forward to now, and the two are dancing on the ice, and the Islanders are winning hockey games.
I caught up with Barzal following their Tuesday practice in Anaheim to talk about Schaefer’s effect on and off the ice: