Less than three weeks ago, Bo Horvat was falling on his sword during a goal-less streak that lasted 13 games.
The cliché goes that scoring comes in bunches, so maybe it’s no surprise that since then, Horvat had eight points — four goals and four assists — in his past seven games entering play Monday, including a season-high three points in a 6-3 win over the Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
“He’s been shooting the puck free, [like] the goal that he scored there [in Toronto]” coach Patrick Roy said before the Islanders were humiliated by Buffalo in their last game before the holiday break on Monday. “I feel like it’s a good fit for him playing with [Maxim Tsyplakov] and [Simon] Holmstrom right now. It works well.”
Pairing Horvat with Tsyplakov has coincided with No. 14’s breakout, with Roy first trying the combination on the night Horvat broke his goals drought by scoring against the Hurricanes on Dec. 7.
In 104:49 on the ice together at five-on-five before Monday, Tsyplakov and Horvat had outscored opposition 8-2 with a 54.34 expected goals percentage — and Roy has made no secret of wanting to keep the two of them together even as the Islanders forward group has gotten healthy.
Doing so is a contributing factor to why Horvat and Mathew Barzal have not yet played together, a trade-off Roy is happy to make.
“I think Bo loves to get those give-and-gos in the neutral zone [with Tsyplakov],” Roy said. “I think that’s a good fit for him. He wants a guy that moves the puck quick and I think it’s great for him. And Barzy loves to skate with that puck in the neutral zone, so for him to play with [Jean-Gabriel] Pageau and [Anders] Lee, it’s also a very good match.”
Roy said there was no message intended by playing Barzal at five-on-six on Saturday, which led to Barzal scoring an empty-net goal.
“I don’t try to send messages,” Roy said. “I go with the guys that I trust. And in that game, everybody was playing well. … When your guys are committed to playing solid defensively, I don’t care who’s on the ice at the end of the game.”
Ilya Sorokin started his 11th straight game for the Islanders on Monday. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played in goal for the Sabres.
Rasmus Dahlin (back spasms) was back in Buffalo’s lineup after missing Saturday’s loss to the Bruins.