{"id":464390,"date":"2025-03-09T08:10:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T12:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=464390"},"modified":"2025-03-09T08:10:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T12:10:22","slug":"nhl-predictions-march-9th-new-york-islanders-vs-anaheim-ducks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/03\/09\/nhl-predictions-march-9th-new-york-islanders-vs-anaheim-ducks\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: March 9th New York Islanders vs Anaheim Ducks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to another edition of NHL Predictions. Each day,\u00a0<\/span>Last Word on Hockey<\/span><\/em> reviews the scheduled games and offers insight and analysis to help predict who will win in key head-to-head matchups. Today, we preview the New York Islanders<\/a> vs Anaheim Ducks.<\/a>\u00a0Check out more NHL Predictions\u00a0as the 2024-25 season continues.<\/span><\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

New York Islanders vs Anaheim Ducks<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Head to Head: Islanders 0 – 1 Ducks<\/h4>\n

Time:<\/span><\/strong> 9:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)<\/span><\/p>\n

TV:<\/span><\/strong> Victory+; MSGSN; KCOP-13; ESPN+<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ducks (27-28-7) host the New York Islanders (29-26-7) at Honda Center in Anaheim, California on <\/span>March 9th<\/a>. This is the second of two meetings this season between the interconference opponents. However, these two teams haven’t seen each other since game nine of the season back in October. Anaheim won the first matchup on Long Island thanks to another stellar goaltending performance. Lukas Dostal<\/a> made 40 saves, including 17 in the third period, en route to a 3 – 1 Ducks victory<\/a>. Both teams are battling recent inconsistent play and<\/span> need\u00a0to start winning streaks. <\/span>The storyline here is two teams fighting for critical points and keeping their wild card playoff spot hopes alive. The other, equally serious storyline, is these two teams were involved in a blockbuster trade at the deadline. The Ducks received Islanders depth defender Oliver Kylington<\/a> for Ducks’ stalwart, future considerations.<\/p>\n

Anaheim Ducks Running Out of Race Track<\/h4>\n

The Ducks are dropping points they cannot afford to. General manager Pat Verbeek<\/a> talked about the Ducks’ schedule down the stretch on a recent episode of\u00a0The Beeker<\/a><\/em> podcast. He addressed the team and told them about a similar situation he was in when he played for the New Jersey Devils. Verbeek also emphasized that the Ducks will face the teams they are chasing a number of times down the stretch. Well, they squandered two of those opportunities over their previous two games against Vancouver and St. Louis. Now, the Ducks have some serious ground to make up and may need to string together at least eight or nine wins over their next ten games, just like Verbeek’s Devils team did.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Frank Vatrano<\/a> leads the team with six points and four assists in the previous five games and leads the team with 19 goals this season. After not losing in regulation when scoring three or more goals all season, the Ducks have done just that twice in their previous four games. (Although they were literally one second from forcing overtime against St. Louis on Friday night). Still, they are an impressive 23-3-3 this season when hitting that mark. Less impressively, over their previous 10 games, the Ducks are 5-4-1. Whether they make the playoffs or not, being in the fight for a playoff spot will be great experience for this young team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

John Gibson<\/a> is out injured… again. With that, recent acquisition Ville Husso<\/a> was recalled from San Diego. Even so, it’s difficult to imagine Lukas Dostal not playing every game that is not a back-to-back until the Ducks are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Dostal is posting a 2.88 goals-against average and .910 save percentage this season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

New York Islanders in the Uncertain Middle-Ground<\/h4>\n

This will only be the Islanders second game since moving on from franchise centrepiece Brock Nelson<\/a>. The Islanders seemed to play the role of sellers at the deadline, despite being only a few games out of a wild card spot. It remains to be seen who will fill the emotional and productivity void left by Nelson. The obvious choice might be Mathew Barzal<\/a>, but he’s been out of the lineup since early February after undergoing a procedure on his knee. The Isles are expecting him back later this month. Over their last 10 games, the Islanders are 5-5-0 Scoring has been an issue all season. Coming off a big game last night, Jean-Gabriel Pageau<\/a> leads the team with four assists and six points in his previous five games.<\/p>\n

Like the Ducks, the Islanders struggle in most of the major offensive and defensive team statistics. However, there is one outlier. The Islanders are the number one faceoff team in the league. The Ducks? Dead last. In tight-checking games that are common down the stretch, one faceoff can be the difference in the game. Another difference-maker this time of year, when the games begin to feel like playoff games, is the goaltender. The Islanders happen to have one of the best in the league. Ilya Sorokin<\/a> is as steady as they come in net. However, he did start and get the win against San Jose last night, so the Islanders goaltending situation will be interesting to monitor leading up to this one. Jakub Skarek<\/a> was the backup against San Jose, but Marcus Hogberg<\/a> has been practicing. The starter may become clear after morning skate.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/span><\/h3>\n

The last two predictions were quite a bit off, so we’re going to get back to playing our game. Solid, simple hockey. This\u00a0 should be a tight, grind-it-out game. New York\u2019s faceoff dominance (54.9%) will give them early puck control, but with Mat Barzal still out and their league-worst power play (11.8%), offence won\u2019t come easy. Expect Frank Vatrano or Mason McTavish<\/a> to pounce on a defensive miscue and give Anaheim an early edge, but the Isles will claw back, likely off a net-front scramble from Anders Lee<\/a>. With both teams struggling to score, Lukas Dostal will have to outduel Ilya Sorokin, especially in a third period that could feel like a chess match. If it heads to OT, Trevor Zegras<\/a>\u2019 creativity could be the difference, using the extra space to make something happen.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Ducks win 3 – 2 (OT)<\/em><\/p>\n

Prop Bets of the Night<\/span><\/h3>\n

We close out our NHL Prediction for the New York Islanders vs Anaheim Ducks with some of our preferred prop bets of the night. Troy Terry<\/a> is creating offense and is due for a goal. His anytime goal odds are +220. Former Ducks usually have solid games against Anaheim, so consider Kyle Palmieri<\/a> anytime goal as well (+200). Season record (11-22).\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Note: Always check the latest team news and player statuses before placing any bets, as injuries and other factors can influence game outcomes.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Perry Nelson – Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Please play responsibly. Check for your local rules and age restrictions. Some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Have a gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER<\/span><\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to another edition of NHL Predictions. Each day,\u00a0Last Word on Hockey reviews the scheduled games and offers insight and analysis to help predict who will win in key head-to-head matchups. Today, we preview the New York Islanders vs Anaheim Ducks.\u00a0Check out more NHL Predictions\u00a0as the 2024-25 season continues. NHL Predictions New York Islanders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5399,"featured_media":464443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4524,20,4547,17,4548],"tags":[6013,996,2701,983,3430,2699,6084,3806],"class_list":["post-464390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl-predictions","category-ducks","category-hockey","category-islanders","category-nhl","tag-anaheim-ducks-predictions","tag-anders-lee","tag-brock-nelson","tag-frank-vatrano","tag-lukas-dostal","tag-mat-barzal","tag-new-york-islanders-predictions","tag-trevor-zegras"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464390"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":464444,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464390\/revisions\/464444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}