New York Islanders Bo Horvat has been on a tear lately, currently riding a three-game point streak (five goals)  into their Thursday night showdown against the Detroit Red Wings. 

He joined NHL Network's NHL Now: Players Only with Mike Rupp and Brian Boyle to talk about the team's play as of late and, of course, rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer. 

After an 0-3-0 start, the Islanders, in large part to Horvat, have won three straight games.

"Yeah, we're really excited. Obviously the first few games weren't great, but we're back on track now," Horvat said. " We just got to keep it going. We're an excited  group. We got a lot of good pieces and, yeah, just got to keep it rolling out. The energy around."

Boyle goes on to talk about how much more exciting it is to watch Islanders hockey, bringing up rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer who owns a six-game point streak to begin his young NHL career. 

"He's been unbelievable. He's exceeded all my expectations, for sure," Horvat said. "Not just only his play, but his off ice stuff. He works hard, he comes to the rink with a smile on his face all the time. He's a phenomenal hockey player. In my opinion, he's one of our best, if not, our best, player right now. So we're lucky to have him."

Horvat went on to discuss that he had invited Schaefer over for dinner numerous times, but there were nights where he was booked as every teammate had sent out invitations. 

" I talked to him a couple times, obviously at the beginning, and invited him over for dinner a couple times, and he turned me down," Horvat said. "He's like, 'I'm going to so and so's house. Now I'm going to this guy's house', and it's like...I don't know it was pretty funny. But I think that's great. I think it's great the guys are welcoming him and trying to make him feel comfortable. He's such a likable and happy-go-lucky kid. Him and my son got along really well when he was over."

Horvat, Schaefer and the Islanders battle the Red Wings on Thursday night at 7 PM ET on MSGSN.