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Ex-Canucks captain Bo Horvat has bizarre on-ice encounter with a bird

Trevor Beggs
Trevor Beggs
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Feb 4 2026, 7:57 pm
Ex-Canucks captain Bo Horvat has bizarre on-ice encounter with a bird
Kim Klement Neitzel/Imagn Images

Things got weird for the Vancouver Canucks after Bo Horvat left the team.

Three years have now gone by since the Canucks traded Horvat to the New York Islanders. In that time, they won their division, nearly advanced to the Conference Finals, traded the guy they originally chose over Horvat in J.T. Miller, traded Horvat’s replacement for captain in Quinn Hughes, and are now last overall in the NHL.

That’s one bizarro roller coaster.

However, it might not be as wild as what happened to Horvat on Tuesday night UBS Arena.

During first period action between the Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Matthew Schaefer scored his 16th goal of the season in the dying seconds of the opening frame.

Horvat would pick up his 307th career assist on the goal, but this assist was different from all the rest.

While Horvat was behind the net, he appeared to run into a bird.

“Holy,” Horvat said as he ran into the bird.

“There’s a bird in here,” he said. “Dude, I ran into him behind the net.”

“Poor guy.”

After the game, the Islanders confirmed that they found the “rally bird” and released the winged creature back into the wild.

It’s not the first time that an animal has found its way onto the ice for a game. On various occasions throughout NHL history, birds and bats have infiltrated rinks during game action.

Heck, there’s even a story about an Islanders game being delayed back in 1989 because a seagull landed on the ice.

Horvat certainly deserves some credit. Not only did he navigate the bird to register an assist, but he scored two goals, including the overtime winner, and finished the night with a +5 in 24:35 of ice time.

Clearly, the former Canucks captain is rounding into form just days before he’ll join Team Canada for the 2026 Olympics.

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