{"id":266487,"date":"2025-11-02T07:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T07:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/266487\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T07:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T07:30:09","slug":"islanders-mat-barzal-bo-horvat-line-pairing-could-unlock-something-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/266487\/","title":{"rendered":"Islanders’ Mat Barzal, Bo Horvat line pairing could unlock something special"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having Mat Barzal and Bo Horvat on two different lines certainly wasn\u2019t the Islanders\u2019 biggest problem through 10 games.<\/p>\n

If anything, moving Barzal back to center was working reasonably well, and Horvat\u2019s line with Jonathan Drouin and Emil Heineman was the Islanders\u2019 best.<\/p>\n

And still, there is something different \u2014 something extra \u2014 that gets unlocked when the Islanders\u2019 best two forwards are playing alongside each other. And if Cal Ritchie, the top prospect who made his Islanders debut <\/a>in Friday\u2019s win over the Capitals<\/a>, is at his best playing center, then there is suddenly an opening to rejoin the two stars.<\/p>\n

\"NewBo Horvat (14) celebrates his goal with center Mathew Barzal (13) during the third period of the Islanders\u2019 win over the Capitals on Oct. 31, 2025. AP<\/p>\n

That was just what coach Patrick Roy did in the third period against the Capitals, switching his lines to play Barzal and Horvat alongside Heineman, with Ritchie centering Drouin and Kyle Palmieri \u2014 and it produced the Islanders\u2019 best 20 minutes of the night, as they broke a 1-1 deadlock to win 3-1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nice to put [Barzal] back with Bo and having Heineman with them,\u201d Roy said. \u201cI thought Ritchie played really well with Drouin and Palmsy in the third.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy said he was unsure whether the Islanders would keep the configuration intact for Sunday\u2019s home game against the Blue Jackets, but it would make sense to do so.<\/p>\n

Throughout training camp, Barzal made clear to anyone and everyone who asked how much he wants to play with Horvat.<\/p>\n

On Friday night, Ritchie told The Post he was \u201cmore comfortable at center,\u201d though he\u2019s more than willing to play on the wing if that\u2019s what the Islanders ask of him.<\/p>\n

\"WillWill Cuylle (left) checks Calum Ritchie during the third period of a preseason game at UBS Arena on Sept.29, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s feasible to keep things the way they were in that third period Friday depends mostly on whether Ritchie can handle the NHL, and the matchups that come with being a de facto second-line center. That remains to be seen, and Ritchie\u2019s first game with the Islanders offered a mixed bag.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think at the start, it was tough to get my legs under me and then as the game adjusted, got my legs,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cI thought I played pretty good in the third, there. I thought I was playing good defensively, didn\u2019t give as much. That was good.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Ritchie can handle the workload, though, it would go a long way for the Islanders.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Matthew Schaefer was named the NHL\u2019s Rookie of the Month for October after recording eight points in his first 11 games.<\/p>\n

Schaefer leads all rookies in average time on ice, and leads rookie defensemen in goals and power-play points. <\/p>\n

He was the fourth 18-year-old defenseman since 1984-85 to record three goals in a calendar month.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Islanders did not practice Saturday following a back-to-back in Carolina and Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having Mat Barzal and Bo Horvat on two different lines certainly wasn\u2019t the Islanders\u2019 biggest problem through 10…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[394,385,99],"class_list":["post-266487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}