The Metropolitan Division-leading Islanders went into their combined All-Star break and bye week losing a 3-2 shootout at Chicago on Tuesday night, knowing they need to play better than they did against the Blackhawks in their playoff push and expecting a majority of their remaining 33 games over the season’s final nine weeks to be the same type of closely contested battles.
“Every game has been hard for us,” said goalie Robin Lehner, who went into the eight-day break leading the NHL with a 2.02 goals-against average and tied for first with a .