Wednesday night’s game between the New York Islanders and Vancouver Canucks may seem mundane at first glance, but it will mean a lot to forward Bo Horvat.
The former captain of the British Columbia team will return for the first time to the city where he played for nine seasons. He visited the Isles on Jan. 30 and quickly got involved, admitting that the atmosphere at Islanders games was much better than at Canucks games.
• Also read: MacKenzie Weegar has a lot to thank the Bell center and a Canadiens player for
• Also read: Jeremy Swayman could achieve quite a feat
“It’s unbelievable,” he said on April 8 at the UBS Arena rink. It’s a lot better than Vancouver, I can tell you that.”
Horvat calmed the situation down two days later, not wanting to disrespect the fans. The emotions overwhelmed him, he said, but it would be interesting to see if fans were convinced by his apology.
“It’s going to be an emotional night,” the center admitted to NHL.com on Tuesday. I have a lot of good memories of Vancouver so it will be a bit strange to come back, but this time in the visitors’ locker room. I have so many great memories there, it’s going to be a great evening.”
A difficult part lies ahead
The Ontario native struggled to adjust to his new team at the end of the 2022-2023 season. After scoring 54 points in 49 games in Vancouver, he was limited to 16 points in 30 duels when he arrived in New York. But this season the situation seems to be changing.
“It was difficult,” he admitted. It definitely helped me to finally establish myself and be able to go to training camp.”
Horvat is second on his team with four goals and 11 points in 13 games.
While things are looking up for No. 14, that’s not necessarily the case for the Islanders. They are in a very difficult phase as they have lost their last five matches.
The situation is completely different for the opponents, who have been on fire since the start of the campaign. Their record of 11-2-1 is good for second place in the Pacific Division.
Several Canucks players are simply great in the 2023-24 season. In particular, they can count on the NHL’s best scorer, Elias Pettersson, with 25 points, and the most productive defenseman, Quinn Hughes, with 23 points.
The confrontation will be broadcast late Wednesday night on TVA Sports.