Isles need Bo Horvat to be Bo Horvat in final playoff push
New York Islanders center Bo Horvat skates with the puck during the first period against the Washington Capitals on March 29, 2023. Credit: AP/Nick Wass
The playoff-chasing Islanders absolutely have to beat the also-ran Flyers, losers of five straight, on Saturday at UBS Arena — Jerry Garcia Night! — just as Bo Horvat must be productive offensively in the season’s final three games.
“We’re a four-line hockey team,” coach Lane Lambert said. “And we need our top guys to produce as well.”
Horvat, acquired from the Canucks on Jan. 30 for a first-round pick, Anthony Beauvillier and Aatu Raty to be the top-line center, had a much-needed goal and an assist in Thursday night’s 6-1 win over the visiting Lightning.
The Islanders (40-30-9), who have beaten the Flyers twice in three games this season, retained the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot with three regular-season games remaining. They are even in points (89) and games (79) with the Panthers, who have won five straight and have one more regulation win than the Islanders for the tiebreaker. The Penguins, who also have played 79 games, are one point behind the Panthers and Islanders.
Horvat has a career-high 38 goals but has only seven goals and six assists in 27 games for the Islanders since the trade and just four goals and five assists in the 20 games since elite playmaker Mathew Barzal was injured on Feb. 18.
The Islanders’ power play is 0-for-11 in the last six games even with Lambert trying Horvat, who usually plays between the circles, on both half-walls and with the two power-play units being shuffled against the Lightning.
“You need your best players to be your best players at the end of the day, and Brock has been that all year,” Horvat said when asked about center Brock Nelson’s goal and two assists against the Lightning. “He was a beast again tonight.”
And for himself?
“I thought we had some good looks [on the power play],” Horvat said. “I’d like to get a couple of those back and hit the net on the one. [Goalie Brian Elliott] made a good save on me on the other one. I was happy getting those looks.”
Horvat capped the scoring against the Lightning at 19:40 of the third period. He had scored an empty-netter in a 5-1 win over the visiting Devils on March 27 but, before Thursday, the last time he had beaten a goalie was his first-period shorthanded goal in a 4-0 win in Winnipeg on Feb. 26.
“It’s a little bit of weight off your shoulders,” Horvat said. “You’re always thinking about it. You want to contribute offensively to the team and get on the scoresheet as much as you want to win your faceoffs.”
Horvat also set up Simon Holmstrom’s goal at 15:14 of the third period with a stick-to-stick backhanded feed to the left.
To Horvat, there was no doubt which of his points against the Lightning made him happier.
“Definitely the feed, without question,” he said. “You’ve been making those passes and they’ve been going through and they just haven’t been going in. To see Simon bury that one to finish that one off, it definitely felt good.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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