Bo Horvat’s goal pushes Islanders into second place with OT win over Maple Leafs
It’s New York, New York at the top of the Metropolitan Division.
And the Islanders, who moved into second place with a 4-3 overtime win on Monday over John Tavares and the Maple Leafs courtesy of Bo Horvat’s game-winner, are playing as well as any team in hockey.
It looked as though their repeated capitulations in the third period could derail the season, and the Islanders endured a seven-game losing streak through the first two weeks of November that prompted questions about the head coach’s job status.
Now, they are reaping the reward with five wins in their last six and a 8-1-2 record since a shootout win in Calgary broke the losing streak.
“You can play as well as you want and do a lot of good things. But if you’re not getting wins, it’s frustrating,” Horvat told The Post. “To see where our hard work’s been going and the results that have been coming out of it definitely feels great.”
For a moment, it looked like this game would join the annals of third-period nightmares that the Islanders have compiled this season.
After defending a 3-2 lead for the first 19:53 of the third, Morgan Rielly finally broke through for Toronto at six-on-five, poking in a rebound.
Oh, and it just so happened to be Tavares’ rebound — for his 1,000th career point.
That set off a particularly loud chorus of boos inside UBS Arena as the Islanders announced the achievement on the scoreboard and the Leafs poured onto the ice to honor Tavares — who saluted with his stick to the booing fans.
The Islanders, however, reset quickly.
And 44 seconds into overtime, Horvat was right there to finish off a breakaway feed from Mat Barzal.
“A season can be a roller-coaster ride at times,” Casey Cizikas said. “When you face adversity, it’s how you respond. The way this group has responded, it’s shown a lot of character.”
That — along with the quality of opponents they’ve beaten lately, including the Kings and Maple Leafs this week — offers pretty strong evidence that this team might be for real.
So too does the confidence with which they’re playing right now, up and down the roster.
They seem to be getting to every loose puck, winning every battle, skating to the crease with purpose. Rarely has that been more evident than Monday night, when the Islanders forechecked hard, defended with structure and never once looked like they were waiting for the other shoe to drop — even when it seemingly did.
“I just think the difference is the pucks are going in,” Horvat said. “We were getting our chances earlier in the year. They weren’t going in for us, we were hitting posts. But definitely feels good to end that one tonight.”
For all of six minutes, the Islanders looked a step behind in this game. Robert Bortuzzo went off for slashing after breaking up a two-on-one started by a Samuel Bolduc turnover and Auston Matthews scored all too easily on the subsequent Toronto power play.
The rest of the opening period, though, was all Islanders — with the top-six buzzing around the crease and dominating possession of the puck. It was only a matter of time before someone broke through, and Brock Nelson did so with a one-timer past Ilya Samsonov at the 9:20 mark.
Cizikas then roofed a backhander off Cal Clutterbuck’s feed at 18:33, capping another sustained run of Islanders pressure.
Kyle Palmieri made it 3-1 just 1:10 into the second, beating out an icing call and then finishing off Nelson’s feed to the high slot.
Tavares — who else — marked point No. 999 by deflecting Connor Timmins’ shot past Ilya Sorokin to make it 3-2 at 7:43 of the second, setting the stage for the finish.
The Islanders, though, have quickly become a team that can respond to those situations with resilience.
“I think we’re pretty confident,” coach Lane Lambert said. “I think we’re making plays. Offensively, I think things are happening, we’re getting opportunities, I like our execution for the most part. There’s a lot of good things to be said about our game right now.”
