What’s Going Through Your Mind, Bo Horvat?
I sat down with Bo Horvat following Friday's practice to discuss his celebration after potting the overtime goal & more.
EAST MEADOW, NY — I can’t tell you what scoring an overtime goal in the NHL feels like. But based on Bo Horvat’s celebration last night, it seems surreal.
His celebration was ICE cold, sharing a moment with the Islanders faithful before his teammates joined in.
At Friday’s practice, I asked Horvat about the celebration decision, with his overtime tally giving the Islanders their third straight win to move within two points of the Montreal Canadiens, the team they beat, for the second wild-card spot.
“I'm just trying to find my buddies in the crowd,” Horvat jokingly said.
Then his locker room neighbor Kyle MacLean chirped him by saying that “I’m the man” was what was going through Horvat’s head.
“It's just one of those things where you just see everybody cheering, you see everybody stand up, and you want to see it, to be honest with you,” Horvat added. “It’s just something I've done a couple of times now, and it’s just a lot of fun.”
The celebration kind of embodied a “why not us” mentality, something we saw a ton last season down the stretch.
“We’re a resilient group. We're hungry for a playoff spot,” Horvat said. “We knew what kind of game that was going to be and how big it was going to be and every game going forward, right? It's going to be huge for us. So, yeah, we're a hungry group, and we want to win, and we have the team here to do it.”
The Canadiens are a very fast team, and while the Islanders in the past have struggled against the faster teams, they found a way to overcome that, something we saw against the Edmonton Oilers in getting that game to overtime and in both comeback wins, first against the Florida Panthers and then the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“They took it to us with speed. I thought we clogged up the neutral zone pretty well,” Horvat said. “We forced them to dump pucks, and if we can transition quickly and break out fast, it kind of helps our offensive game. So, we just kind of continue to do that against fast teams.”
What’s the most important thing in slowing an opponent down?
“I think we're working them down low, forcing them to play on their own end and forcing them to work behind the net. We got big, strong guys down here — Horvat glanced at Anders Lee— that can lug pucks down low, and I think we gotta use that to our advantage.”
Another important part of the Islanders counteracting the talented teams they’ve faced and will continue to face is goaltender Ilya Sorokin.
He’ll get a much-needed break on Saturday against the Calgary Flames after starting the last five games. But he was elite on Thursday, stopping 38 shots while recording two assists.
“He’s phenomenal,” Horvat said. “His athleticism and his determination out there, he’s never going to give up on a puck. I think that says a lot about him. It says a lot about the way he is as a person, as a player, and we're lucky to have him.”
The point production is just the icing on the cake.
“I mean, he's making those key saves, right? It’s leading to transitioning to our offense, and he's chipping in on the offense.”
Horvat’s goal on Thursday was one of redemption, with his turnover leading to the Canadiens making it a 3-2 game in the third. It was also one he’s deserved for all the hard work he’s done lately, even if the results haven’t come.
If the Islanders are going to make the playoffs, yes, it’s going to have to be a full team effort. But also, the top dogs will need to come through.
Horvat has points in four of the last five games, with three goals and an assist.
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