Bo Horvat is struggling to find his groove this season with the NY Islanders

When the NY Islanders acquired Bo Horvat a month before the trade deadline in 2022, he immediately impacted the core of this team, helping lead them to the playoffs. Last season, with a healthy Mat Barzal on his wing, Horvat had the second-best season of his career production-wise, again sneaking into the playoffs.

This off-season the Isles signed Anthony Duclair to complete the top line alongside Horvat and Barzal. With Duclair and Barzal missing over a month of action, nobody on the roster has suffered more than Horvat.

Bo Horvat struggles to find his form

Horvat has now gone 12 games without a goal, and has just five on the season, on pace to finish with under 20 goals for the first time since the shortened 2020-21 season, when he finished with 19 for the Vancouver Canucks.

With Barzal and Duclair absent, Horvat has played mostly with Anders Lee and either JG Pageau or Simon Holmstrom. Lee, who is having a rejuvenated season after many left him for dead, has 11 goals this season and five during the same 12-game span Horvat has gone goalless.

It's not as if Horvat hasn't had his opportunities, having what seems to be one golden opportunity per game but unable to convert.

"He's putting too much pressure on himself scoring goals," Patrick Roy said after last night's OT loss to the Montreal Canadiens. "Right now, it's his main focus. Bo Horvat is a 200-foot player. This is a guy that will get those chances and he will get those goals."

The hope is that with the return of Duclair and Barzal, we will see more of the Horvat we've seen since he joined the Islanders. Duclair is back skating on his own, but Barzal doesn't appear to be back on the ice just yet. Reestablishing that top line will be one of the key components to a run towards the postseason, especially in an Eastern Conference where the majority of teams are struggling to find their form.