Why is Patrick Roy going with Bo Horvat on the wing? What role does Robert Bortuzzo's experience play?
TAMPA, FL -- As we've said before each game lately, it's the New York Islanders' biggest game of the season.
After beating the Florida Panthers 3-2 to move two points closer to a wild-card spot, the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning are up next. The puck drops at 7 PM ET on Saturday.
Head coach Patrick Roy is going with some new lines for this game, with the biggest change being where Bo Horvat is playing in the lineup.
Instead of skating as the top-line center, he will be on the "third" line, manning the wing position.
Also, for the last few games, Roy has played 23-year-old defenseman Alexander Romanov alongside grizzled veteran Robert Bortuzzo.
More on both these topics in today's notebook:
HORVAT ON THE WING
Horvat is a player who is willing to do anything for the team, even if it means playing a new position in crunch time.
"I mean, I haven't played wing since juniors, so it's gonna be interesting," Horvat said. "But, I think, Pageau makes it much easier and is a great center and he's an easy person to play with. So looking forward to that."
The Islanders need wins right now, and Horvat understands that Roy is doing what he feels allows the lineup to be as effective as possible.
“No matter where they have me in the lineup — wing, center, put me on D. I don’t know. Throw me in net. I don't care. It doesn’t matter — as long as we get wins. And that’s all that matters at the end of the day," Horvat said.
When Roy was coming up with this change and a few others, it wasn't a move based on analytics.
"It was more a gut feeling on this one," Roy said. "That's what I said to Bo this morning when I sat down with him and said, 'When Hartley put Forsberg on the left side with Sakic, at first he was like, 'Why this?' but after a couple of games, you know what, 'I like that', so sometimes, it's just embracing this.
"This is a challenge and we call that a career. You try different things, and our objective is just winning hockey games and trying to generate a little more offense. I mean, we think we're playing very well defensively, but we believed that we could maybe generate more offense, and we've been trying a lot of things. And I think one of you guys said maybe that's one of the things we haven't tried [Horvat on wing], and we're curious to see, but that doesn't mean it's gonna last five minutes into the game. That's how we will start the game, and we'll go from there and see how it goes."
Roy is able to make this move because he trusts Horvat as a player.
"Bo's a smart hockey player, very smart hockey player. And first of all, he works hard, he cares. I think he's capable," Roy said. "Like I said many, many times, it's very difficult for a winger to become the center, but the center could be a wing. It's a pretty easy adjustment.
"It's funny that we're making a huge deal of this, but, like, when you start the game, how many times you see the center take the face-off and then after when the puck comes into the zone, he's on the wing. So, to me, it's not a big deal. It's just something that we're trying to do. It might be more of a big deal with the media than it is for us. But I mean, I think it's gonna help Bo's game, and I think it's fun to see a different perspective on how it is for a winger, so when he's back as a center, he will know exactly how a winger feels and might change his game."
BORTUZZO'S EXPERIENCE
When the Islanders acquired Robert Bortuzzo on Dec. 8 for a seventh-round pick in 2024, he became the only player on the roster to have ever won a Stanley Cup, winning one with the St. Louis Blues in 2019.
He knows what it takes to win, especially being part of a team that faced tremendous adversity.
That year, the Blues were the worst teams in the NHL through the first half of the season before a new sense of belief came through their doors once Craig Berube was hired, replacing Mike Yeo.
They went on a tear in the second half of the season, winning 11 straight games after the All-Star break, getting themselves back in the mix, finishing the season third in the central division.
It's a cliche, but it was an "anything is possible" moment.
To a lesser extent, the Islanders are facing adversity in hopes of making the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Behind the eight ball, with 10 games to go -- sitting four points out of a wild-card spot -- they will need to have everyone pulling their weight.
But they'll also need to rely on experience to get them there, as this is an Islanders team that is used to playing down to the wire.
Last year, the Islanders needed until Game 82 to qualify for the playoffs.
Since returning from the lineup on March 21 after a 31-game absence (lower-body injury), Bortuzzo has been solid, but it's his experience this immeasurable for a team that has to defy some odds here if it wants its season extended.
"Absolutely. I mean, it's everything that someone went through," Roy said about Bortuzzo's importance in the room and on the ice at this moment in the season.
"If it's Junior, if it's pro, I mean, winning is something you want to hear about. It's not just saying, 'Oh, I won the Stanley Cup'. It's what the people want to know. What was your ride? How'd you get there? What did you do? That's what you want to hear from guys that went far in the playoffs, and we have a lot of guys that went to the final four two times in a short period of time with the islanders. So, I think that's what you want to hear from those guys."
Roy loved the leadership Bortuzzo has brought and also appreciates what he is doing for Romanov, who is still developing into a top-flight NHL defenseman.
"What I love about Robert is he's talking a lot, and I think that does help Romanov a lot in his decisions with the puck and calming him down," Roy said. "He's got a lot of energy, and sometimes having someone that says, 'Okay, you got this, you could think more, not relax, but make the right decisions with the puck."
Romanov is enjoying his time with the veteran.
"He's a pretty good player with huge experience so we can help each other to play a good game," Romanov said. "He's so physical. I like it. He's a good player."