Tuesday might be one of the most frustrating nights of Bo Horvat's career.
Not only did he snap a 12-game scoreless streak, he took a bad bounce the other way in overtime and blocked a shot off his skates that set up Nick Suzuki for the game-winning goal.
This play, which sealed a 2-1 loss for the Islanders, couldn't have been more unfortunate. But that wasn't much consolation to Horvat.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to put the puck in the net,” he said. “That’s why I’m here. It’s part of my game. That’s who I am too.
“I'd say I'm getting as many chances as I want. At the end of the day, I have to start putting it in the net. That's my responsibility.”
It's probably no coincidence that Horvat's scoring drought coincided with Matt Barzal's absence — Barzal has scored just twice since his injury — but the Islanders' previous 30-goal season What I'm looking for from Horvat, who was a regular at the club, hasn't changed. .
Rather, it amplifies his need to score.
Horvat's line, which features Anders Lee and Simon Holmstrom (recently replaced by Jean-Gabriel Pageau), has contributed regularly, with Lee's 11 goals leading the Islanders.
Horvat acknowledged that this configuration allows him to take on a more distributive role than when he was with Barzal.
Still, 12 games without a goal is a long time.
Isles coach Patrick Roy argued that it would be more productive for Horvat to focus on what he was doing well.
“He's putting too much pressure on himself to score goals. That's his main focus right now,” Roy said. “Bo Horvat is a 200-footer. He's a guy who takes those chances and scores goals. So I think right now he's focused on scoring goals. He's got to keep playing his game. They're coming. If you do good things outside, good things will happen to you.”
it might help. But it's not wrong to say scoring goals is a big part of why Horvat is here.
And whatever he's doing right means he needs to put the puck in the net.
“It's going down. We're getting good bounces instead of false bounces,” he said. “It's definitely frustrating, I'm not going to lie, it's not fun. My linemates are doing a great job of scoring for me and I'm passing and giving them everything. If that means we have to score goals, that's fine, as long as we win hockey games.”
