ELMONT, N.Y. — It felt like it was going to be one of those nights for Bo Horvat — and not in a good way.
The New York Islanders star center committed two costly turnovers within the first 8:30 of the second period against the St. Louis Blues that immediately wound up in the back of Ilya Sorokin’s net to put his side down 2-0.
First, it was a pass along the right boards of the Blues’ zone that skittered dangerously toward the neutral zone. It was picked up by the St. Louis’ Jake Neighbours, who fed Andrey Toropchenko in transition and snapped a wrister over the glove of Sorokin.
Moments later, standing in front of Sorokin’s, Horvat’s stick was lifted by Brandon Saad, who fed Jordan Kyrou for a quick finish to put the Islanders in a hole.
“Those first two goals were definitely my fault,” Horvat recounted. “It was just one of those games where everything I turned over went in the net.”
Frustrated and angry — or as Horvat described it, “a little bit of everything” — he went back to work rather than recede from the flow of play. The 28-year-old started to play “heavy,” head coach Patrick Roy said, reverting to a straightforward, powerful brand of hockey that began to wear the Blues down.
New York’s second line stepped up in the meantime. Kyle Palmieri scored his fourth goal in two games and Jean-Gabriel Pageau tied it up late in the second period.
“My teammates stepped up big… they had our backs,” Horvat said. “They definitely had mine. I’m thankful for that.”
Fifty-five seconds into the third period, he was back to work bruising his way through a pair of Blues defensemen to muscle a shot from close range on goaltender Joel Hofer. The rebound came right back to his stick and in one move, he swept around the net and stuffed home what turned out to be the game-winning goal of a 4-2 result — the Islanders’ fourth straight victory.
“Character,” Roy said on what Horvat’s bounceback showed him. “I had some tough nights. That didn’t mean we had to lose a game because of it. Sometimes, you just need to find a way to get it back and that’s what Bo did.”
For good measure, despite the turnovers, he was back out on the ice in the final minute of the third period to keep one last Blues push at bay — his defense helping set up Mathew Barzal’s empty-netter to clinch the victory.
“I saw that he wanted it,” Roy said. “That’s why I put him back on the ice at the end of the game because I knew I could trust him. I knew that he was playing heavy in that third period. He was on a mission. He wanted to give it back to his teammates and be a difference maker.”
“It shows how much character he has and how much he wants it,” Pageau added. “He wanted to go get that goal and he did. I thought he was one of our top players.”
This is par for the course for Horvat, who has continued to show in his first full season with the Islanders why he wore the captain’s “C” during his near-decade with the Vancouver Canucks. He’s the centerpiece and one of the most vital parts of New York’s engine — a playmaking, goal-scoring tour de force that can turn a game on its head.
He’s on pace for a third-consecutive 30-goal season with 24 tallies across his first 60 games this season and is flirting with a new career-high in points. As it stands, he’s on pace for 71 after setting a best last year with 70.
Though he’s one of the junior members in terms of seniority in an organizational foundation that has been intact for the better part of the last six years, Horvat has already become a leader in a tight-knit locker room that is hoping to make one last push for the playoffs. Having the humility to take responsibility, even when things turn out on the right side for his team, helps to cement his place as such.
“It feels good to talk about it now when you’re on the winning side of it but I need to be better than that,” Horvat said. “I can’t turn those pucks over.”
With 22 games remaining, the Islanders are four points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the No. 3 spot and an automatic playoff berth in the Metropolitan Division with two games in hand.
“We have to be at our best to keep this thing going down the stretch,” Horvat said. “We need to win as many games as possible.”
