Friendship Goals: Beau and Barzy

Among Mathew Barzal's many talents, his ability to speak near-fluent French flies a little under the radar.
It's a revelation for some (Montreal media) when Barzal lets loose en francais, but that's old news to Anthony Beauvillier, who first met a slightly less fluent Barzal at the 2012 Allstate All-Canadians Mentorship Camp in Mississauga, ON.
Beauvillier appreciated Barzal's "bon matin" (good morning) and efforts to converse in french, so the Quebec native filled in his new teammates's vocabulary with words not taught in school. It's not exactly a Stepbrothers "Did we just become best friends?" moment, but it's the origin story for two Islanders who are becoming inseparable.

"We're all these shy kids who've never met each other. We don't know anyone in the locker room, but he's running around, jumping around dancing and singing and playing the music. I loved it," Barzal said of meeting Beauvillier at the camp. "We were probably the two most outrageous guys."
They met again at Team Canada's U-18 development camp, where Beauvillier remembers another detail that forwarded their friendship.
"I know we had a good connection together," Beauvillier said. "We were roommates and I actually broke my arm that tournament with Team Canada. He was helping me pack my stuff and get into my suit."
Since then, Barzal and Beauvillier have had a gravitational pull on each other. They were both drafted by the Islanders in the first round of the 2015 draft, an outcome deemed extra unlikely since the Isles didn't have a first-round pick at the start of the draft. They jumped into each other's arms when they met on the concourse in orange and blue.
"I was talking to management right after I got drafted and I was like who did we draft? They said Barzy's name and I was like 'no way,'" Beauvillier said.
"We were pretty fired up when we saw each other," Barzal said.
They both attended their first NHL camps together and cracked Team Canada as 18 year olds for the 2016 World Juniors later that year.
Their roads deviated the next season, with Beauvillier sticking with the Islanders for the full year while Barzal returned to junior for more seasoning. As disappointed as Barzal was in going back to Seattle, he was thrilled for Beauvillier.
"When I got sent back last year I could have been jealous, or at the start of this year he got sent down," Barzal said. "I don't think any of that stuff ever gets between us. We both love to see each other succeed."

Both Barzal and Beauvillier took steps forward in their NHL careers this season, emerging as two key pieces of the Islanders offense. Barzal led the team with 85 points and is a favorite to win the Calder Trophy, while Beauvillier cracked 20 goals.
They wound up playing on the same line together in the second half of the season, a move that sparked Beauvillier, who scored 17 of his 21 goals after the calendar flipped to 2018, which also led the Islanders over that span.
Barzal made it part of his mission to get his friend to the 20-goal mark.
"He was sitting at 18, 19 and we were talking about it a little bit and obviously 20 is a pretty cool number, especially being a young guy," Barzal said. "For him to get it, I couldn't be happier for him."
They're learning about the NHL together and trying to figure out life away from the rink. Success in the NHL doesn't always translate to other aspects of life.
Cooking is one. Their menus are small, but probably comparable to most people their age. Barzal said he previously only made eggs, but has since learned to cook a pretty good steak. Beauvillier's go-to meal is salmon, a dish the Islanders eat with the same regularity and enthusiasm as bears in a shallow river, but he's expanding his horizons as well.

When they do cook, they test out new recipes and abilities on each other. Beauvillier will have Barzal over for dinner and they had attempted to start a supper club with Shane Prince and Alan Quine during the season, rotating cooking duties. The group met twice, with Beauvillier and Prince both cooking salmon, what Barzal dubbed the 'salmon-off' after the fact. Nothing's free though.
"He cooks me a meal when I come over then he's like, okay, you owe me a dinner," Barzal said. "So when we go out for a nice dinner he's like you're paying for dinner."
Beauvillier said Barzal also owes him for charging snacks to their room on the road this season.
But as 20 year olds, they're interested in the thing most people their age are and Instagram is a big part of their lives. Barzal and Beauvillier don't play too many video games, but scroll through their feeds instead.
The photo sharing app has led to folly once or twice. After one home game, the two had plans to go into Manhattan to get dinner with some of Beauvillier's friends visiting from out of town. After a miscommunication, their driver started to take them back to Long Island and the two didn't realize they were on the path home for half an hour. They said they were too dialed into their phones.

Follow their accounts and you'll see them together a lot, whether it's touring the Canadian Rockies by helicopter, listening to music in their hotel room or walking the red carpet at Isles events. Throw in playing on the same line, hanging out away from the rink and rooming together on the road, Barzal and Beauvillier spend a lot of time together.
They rile each other up on the road, howling to pester veteran teammates and spend time exploring the different cities around the NHL.
They've got their road routines down too, with Barzal taking the bed closest to the door, while Beauvillier claims the bed on the far side. Barzal's usually the first to get up and get ready before games and flights.
Beauvillier is a neat freak and Barzal's a little messier. There's no line physically drawn down the middle of their hotel rooms on the road, but if an errant shirt crosses onto Beauvillier's side, it's launched back across the room.
"That's probably the only thing we argue about," Barzal said.

Beauvillier is quick with a "no" when asked if they'd ever live together on Long Island.
"It's better for our friendship," Beauvillier clarified.
Usually they're a team. They tend to gang up on Nick Leddy and Andrew Ladd in sewer ball (the team's pre-game soccer warmup) and needle the veterans, especially Jordan Eberle, who completes their line and at 28, gets hit with a lot of dad and grandpa jokes.
"He loves it," Beauvillier said. "He just kind of laughs. He gives it to us too."
Though young, they know where to draw the line.
"JT just laughs at us," Barzal said. "He doesn't really have time for that kind of stuff."
Beauvillier has been especially emboldened by having Barzal with him this season. He was more reserved without his partner in crime last season.
"I was way different last year," Beauvillier said. "I didn't have him so I was way more calm and relaxed."
They're both on the lookout for each other and that was evident on April 3, when Barzal gave his post-game interview with dried blood on his face and a cut on his lip after the Isles 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
The scratches were courtesy of Wayne Simmonds, who caught Barzal with a clothesline fish-hook when Barzal went to join a skirmish along the wall.
Barzal, who's not a fighter, was going into the corner to defend Beauvillier, who'd just been knocked to the ice by Andrew MacDonald. Even though he didn't get a chance at MacDonald, the fact that he didn't hesitate before going in meant something to Beauvillier.
"I would have done the same thing for him," Beauvillier told reporters after the game.
And that's really where their friendship has come to, a long way from a "Bon Matin" introduction.
"We're going to be together for hopefully another 10 years," Beauvillier said. "It's going to be fun. It's crazy what's ahead of us."