Part of the fun of having a new hockey chess piece like Matthew Schaefer is imagining all of the creative ways to deploy him. That goes for coaches, teammates and fans.

Take Saturday in Philadelphia.

The Islanders had not gone to overtime in their first seven games, so when they did so against the Flyers , it gave us our first chance to see how they would handle a three-on-three session.

Coach Patrick Roy did so by first sending out Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat and Schaefer.

It made perfect sense, but seeing it unfold in real life was intriguing, to say the least.

Or, as Schaefer told Newsday after practice on Monday: “It’s super-fun. When you get out there and there’s lots of ice to skate, out there with Bo and Barzy, it’s pretty fun.”

The trio’s first stab at overtime did not produ

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