Lambert Looking to Develop Chemistry Between Barzal and Horvat

Lane Lambert said there was going to be some “experimentation” with how he deploys Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat together.

The word conjures up visions of a science lab, so it’s fitting that chemistry is what Barzal and Horvat are looking to establish together in training camp.

“There's a little bit of experimentation but there's been a long summer to think about it,” Lambert said at the Islanders Golf Outing on Monday. “We’ll move things around a little bit in training camp, but I think there's a pretty good indication of what we're going to do and we'll just have to see.”

Barzal and Horvat have been linemates together through the first two days of camp, as Lambert matches his most dynamic playmaker in Barzal, who has 257 assists in 418 career games, with a sniper in Horvat, who scored a career-high 38 goals last season between the Islanders and Vancouver Canucks.

“You look at the skillsets and whatnot and it should work,” Barzal said on Monday. “I’m looking forward to it.”

The two immediately clicked when Horvat was acquired from the Canucks in January. Horvat scored three goals in his first four games alongside Barzal, who had eight points (2G, 6A) in six full games with Horvat before getting injured.

The two were reunited for the playoffs, but after two months apart, and Barzal coming off an injury, the instant spark from February didn’t quite ignite as quickly.

“When he first got in, we were flying,” Barzal said. “When the playoffs rolled around, I was kind of coming back off injury a little bit so just couldn't really quite find it like we probably wanted to.”

That’s what this year’s training camp is for.

“Hopefully we can rekindle what we had,” Horvat said. “It was a lot of fun to play with him when we were healthy… Just looking forward to both of us getting a training camp under our belt and kind of hit the ground running.”

Both Barzal and Horvat are natural centers, so that’s where the experimentation aspect comes in for Lambert. Horvat is likely to take a lion’s share of the work in the face-off circle given he took the third most face-offs in the NHL last season (1,685) and his 56.9 FOW% ranked 11^th among skates with 700 draws. Barzal won 35.6% of his face-offs last season and has won 42.3% in his career.

But Barzal’s elite skating and dynamic style could see him still in the middle of the ice, depending on the situation and flow of play. Learning how to read and react off each other in camp can only benefit the duo.

“We're both going to have the freedom to kind of just play instinctively,” Barzal said. “He's obviously a beast in the circle, so he'll take a lot of face-offs. I’m sure if there's a situation where I'm in the middle and he's on the wall, we'll just roll with it. We're both smart enough to adjust on the fly. And we'll just go from there to kind of just let our instincts take over.”

Considering Barzal and Horvat have only played together for 12 and a half games, three weeks of training camp offers a good chance for the two to develop some chemistry. At the very least, they’ll get a long look from Lambert.

“There are some pairs that we'd like to take a look at,” Lambert said after day one of camp. “They had great chemistry last year when they first started and then Barzy got hurt. We're looking to develop that and we'll see what happens.”