{"id":520023,"date":"2026-03-24T12:13:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T12:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/520023\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T12:13:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T12:13:16","slug":"hawks-and-isles-with-battle-of-young-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/520023\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawks and Isles with Battle of Young Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to another NHL Predictions. Each day, our writers here at\u00a0Last Word On Hockey\u00a0look at the games and give in-depth analysis. Our team breaks down the key matchups, storylines, and stats, then makes predictions based on how they might play out. For this edition, we will look at the\u00a0New York Islanders<\/a>\u00a0taking on the\u00a0Chicago Blackhawks<\/a>. Don\u2019t forget to check out more NHL Predictions, as our writers continue this series throughout the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions: New York Islanders vs Chicago Blackhawks<\/p>\n

Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)<\/p>\n

How to Watch<\/a>\u00a0TV:\u00a0MSGSN; CHSN, ESPN+
\n2025\u201326 Season Series: Islanders lead 1-0<\/p>\n

This matchup in our NHL predictions features two out-of-conference opponents who are fighting for two different things. The Islanders are trying to fight their way to the playoffs in a loaded Eastern Conference. They sit fourth in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 40-26-5 through 71 games, which has them at 85 points this season. The Blackhawks are a lottery team and fighting for the potential first-overall pick in the upcoming 2026 NHL Entry Draft. They are in last place in the Western Conference\u2019s Central Division. After 70 games, their record is 26-31-13 good enough for 65 points on the season. This is the second and final meeting between these two, the Islanders taking the first at the United Center in Chicago. Tonight, they will meet on Long Island at the UBS Arena.<\/p>\n

Credit Image: \u00a9 Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire<\/p>\n

The Islanders Story<\/p>\n

After back-to-back losses, the Islanders bounced back with a big 1-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a>. With the state of the playoff picture, this was a huge win and two points. Over the last three contests, their offensive production has slipped, scoring two goals or fewer in two of those three games. They rank 22nd in the league in goals for with 2.85 per game. Their leading goal scorer, Bo Horvat<\/a>, scored the long goal in the last game, his 29th of the season. This ended a five-game goal drought, but it extended his point streak to three games. He and team point leader Mathew Barzal<\/a> have done a lot of the heavy lifting this season. They could use someone else to step up. Captain Anders Lee<\/a>\u00a0could be that guy. He has moved up to the top line and has a two-game point streak coming into this game.<\/p>\n

Defensive play has been the stronger of the two units for this team all season. It remains that as we come down the stretch. In the last five games, they have allowed two goals or fewer in three of those. As a team, they rank fourth in the league in goals against with 2.78 per game. Ryan Pulock<\/a>, who has had a good season, missed the last game with an injury, and getting him back for this game would be ideal. Perhaps the main reason for their goals against is their goaltender, Ilya Sorokin<\/a>, who picked up his league-leading seventh shutout of the season in the last one. He has given up three or fewer goals in six of his last seven starts. On the season, he is 26-17-2 with a .913 save percentage.<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks Story<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks come into this game after back-to-back losses. They have not been in good form as of late, dropping four of their last five games. Their offence hasn\u2019t been giving them much to work with, scoring two goals or fewer in the last three games. With that poor form, they rank 30th in the league in goals for with 2.57 per game. Connor Bedard<\/a> is doing his best to carry the offensive load. He has four goals and seven assists over 11 games in March. He is one goal away from his first 30-goal season. Youngster Frank Nazar<\/a> has been playing well recently as well, with four goals and six assists in his last 10 games. While this season hasn\u2019t been great for the team, those are two young centres to try and build around.<\/p>\n

Defensivley things haven\u2019t been going much better for this team. Over the last five games, they have allowed four goals or more in three of them. However, they rank better defensively than offensively. They come in ranked 22nd in goals against with 3.14 per game. Remarkably, despite the poor ranking in the league, they have the number one penalty kill in the league. That unit comes into this game with an 84.4% kill rate. Their starting goaltender hasn\u2019t even been the problem. Spencer Knight<\/a> is having a solid season, with only one regulation loss in March and a .912 save percentage this month. Overall, he is 18-19-10 with a solid .909 save percentage. Backup Arvid Soderblom<\/a> hasn\u2019t held up as strongly with the leaky play in front of him. He is 6-11-3 with a .879 save percentage on the season.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/p>\n

Coming into this game, both teams are moving in opposite directions. The Islanders desperately need the two points from this game, so expect a high sense of urgency. Chicago, you could argue, would prefer to lose for better lottery odds. New York is at home, so the crowd should be into it from puck drop. In addition to those factors, the Islanders just have the better team on paper, so they should be able to handle their business in their building in the heat of a playoff push.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prediction: Islanders win 3-2<\/p>\n

Prop Bets<\/p>\n

According to the popular sportsbooks, the Islanders are the favourites at home at -200 on the moneyline. We would take them, as this is pretty much a must-win game for them. The over\/under is set at 5.5, due to both teams not lighting up offensively we would take the under at +108. As far as anytime goal scorers, for the Islanders, take Anders Lee at +235. He has been playing in an elevated role and is on a two-game point streak. For the Blackhawks, Connor Bedard at +170 is a good bet. He is the team\u2019s leading point scorer and is sitting on 29 goals, so we think he will get to 30 in this game.<\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions, some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling\u00a0problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to another NHL Predictions. Each day, our writers here at\u00a0Last Word On Hockey\u00a0look at the games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[30639,5,122,3328,159,33100,5190,5189,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-520023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-chicago-blackhawks-predictions","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-islanders","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-islanders","13":"tag-new-york-islanders-predictions","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkislanders","16":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116284096986125644","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}