Horvat Leading The Charge; Islanders At Wild-Card Line After Consecutive Wins
Bo Horvat struggled to start the season but since he's lost both of his linemates, Horvat is carrying the Islanders when they needed it most.
Good morning! Happy Free Friday!
What a win it was for the New York Islanders up in Ottawa.
Isaiah George built on his NHL debut, playing 23:49 in the 4-2 victory. Oliver Wahlstrom scored his first goal of the season, which was the first goal from the team’s fourth line.
The Islanders’ top line went to work with Bo Horvat, who had a three-point night (one goal, two assists), with Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scoring.
Semyon Varlamov put together a second straight strong showing.
These pesky Islanders aren’t backing down despite being down two-thirds of their top line and the entirety of the blue line’s left side.
With the win, the Islanders improved to 6-6-2, sitting with 14 points to put them one point behind the Boston Bruins (7-7-1) for the final wild-card spot in the East.
The Islanders have one game in hand.
Don’t mind me babbling. Let’s get to Eric Hornick’s The Skinny, the latest articles, and my column on how Horvat has truly led this team through this tough, injury-riddled stretch.
THE SKINNY & ISLANDERS NEWS
Before we get to Bo Horvat’s leadership, here are Islanders news links & “The Skinny” from Eric Hornick (Brendan Burke and Butch Goring’s MSG Networks statistician). The site is updated after each game with incredible statistics and facts.
Hornick Gems: Seven of Oliver Wahlstrom's 35 goals have been game-winners; it was his first goal since last Black Friday, also in Ottawa
Check out much more at Hornick’s The Skinny: Isles 4, Ottawa 2
Why Sidney Crosby's Goal Wasn't Deemed Offside After Islanders Challenge, Patrick Roy's Thoughts - THN
Isaiah George Is Youngest Islanders Defenseman To Make NHL Debut Since Noah Dobson - THN
Islanders Patrick Roy Reflects On His 20-Year-Old Self As A Montreal Canadien Upon George Call-Up - THN
Patrick Roy Pushing Pierre Engvall To Be More Aggressive: 'That's His Ticket'- THN
Islanders Win Consecutive Games For First Time This Season, Beat Ottawa 4-2
The New York Islanders won their second straight game, beating the Ottawa Senators 4-2 on Thursday night.
In his second career NHL game, Isaiah George played 23:49 alongside Noah Dobson after he played 15:41 in his NHL debut.
Semyon Varlamov shined in goal, stopping 28 of 30, while Oliver Wahlstrom scored his first goal of the season.
Here’s how it happened:
Read more at The Hockey News.
Horvat Leading The Charge, Islanders At Wild-Card Line After Consecutive Wins
With Cal Clutterbuck not returning this season, the New York Islanders gave Bo Horvat the “A”. He joined Brock Nelson (A) and Anders Lee (C) as the official leaders of the team.
Through the first handful of games, Horvat was working hard, but the results were not coming with just two goals through his first five games, with just one at 5-on-5. Through 10 games, he only had three goals with two assists and had enough scoring chances to have 7+, probably.
But once the Islanders lost Mathew Barzal for 4-6 weeks, with Anthony Duclair also on the mend with a lower-body injury, Horvat hit me with a cliche, telling me that everyone was going to have to step up, including himself; Horvat is always a player who holds himself accountable regardless of how well or how poor he was playing.
Alongside Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Horvat has had two goals and five assists for seven points over his last four games since the Barzal injury news.
Against Buffalo, a 4-3 win, it was Horvat who scored on the breakaway to answer Buffalo’s first goal just 40 seconds later to calm the team down.
With the Islanders up 3-2 in the second, it was Horvat who jumped on a loose puck to feed Pageau from the goal line to extend the Islanders’ lead to 4-2 at 8:08 of the second, the game-winning goal in a 4-3 win.
Against the Rangers, a 5-2 loss, Horvat played well but couldn’t beat goaltender Igor Shesterkin.
Horvat came through for the Islanders yet again against the Pittsburgh Penguins, throwing a puck on net, which Kyle Palmieri eventually batted in to tie the game at 1-1 a little over halfway through the second period.
Then, with the Islanders looking for the equalizer in the third, Horvat found Pageau in the slot with an on-the-money pass to tie the score before No. 14 won the game for Long Island, going with the “Peter Forsberg” move in the shootout:
The thing about Horvat is that once he gets going, he’s hard to contain, so of course, his success continued in Ottawa — it was quite possibly his best game of the season.
His backhand feed to Lee from behind the goal line gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead in the final five minutes of the season. His pass to Pageau led to a breakaway dagger for the Ottawa native to make it a 2-0 lead before Horvat iced the game with an empty-net goal from his own zone after a huge Scott Mayfield block.
When star players go down, others have to step up, and Horvat has done exactly that at a time when the Islanders needed it.
This team looked dead in the water, but after winning three of their last four games, Horvat and the Islanders are rather close to breaking through the surface.
Surprise Seats! (click image for details):
Skate before a game at The Park at UBS Arena (click image for details):
Complimentary Parking!
Once again for the 2024-25 season, those that drive a BMW can receive complimentary single-game parking in the Emerald Parking lot.
Please click the BMW | Islanders image below for parking registration information,
One mistake by George letting dude behind him on goal while covering the slot. He won’t make it again the kid is smart great hockey IQ
George is unaffected by the NHL simply because of confidence in his superior skating skills. To watch him reset multiple times and rag the puck is spectacular. He is no wallflower either he is totally invested in the positional physical game. That first goal was sitting there for him too, couldn’t get through the traffic unfortunately. If we can get back Romanov I am very happy with the Blue Line. Feel for Pelech he was playing classic pelly hockey before injury. George is here to stay, he isn’t going anywhere Cholowski is going back to Bridgeport. Welcome to the NHL Isaiah.Would like to see Jefferies up this year, he is mature coming out of college and showing it in the AHL.