New York @ Chicago preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 22, 2019 ) NY Islanders 2, Chicago 3

The New York Islanders cooled down considerably following a blistering hot stretch in which they recorded at least a point in a franchise-record 17 consecutive games. After losing two in a row and three of their last four, the Islanders aim to get it together on Friday when they open a three-game road trip against the Chicago Blackhawks.

"I think if you look over it as a whole, the first half, you've got to like where we're at," New York forward Mathew Barzal said, per Newsday. "We've had some good stretches of hockey. We've beaten some good teams lately but we've kind of given some points away that we should have gotten." The 22-year-old has held up his end of the bargain with goals in three straight games and an assist in each of his last two to boost his team-leading totals in both categories to 16. Chicago plummeted into the Christmas break with losses in six of its last nine games, capped by what captain Jonathan Toews aptly labeled as an "embarrassing" performance in a 7-1 shellacking at the hands of New Jersey on Monday. The bad news continued three days later for the Blackhawks, who announced that forward Brandon Saad will be sidelined three weeks with a right ankle injury while defensemen Brent Seabrook and former Islander Calvin de Haan will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, MSG Plus-2 (New York), NBCS Chicago

ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (23-9-3): New York captain Anders Lee recorded his 11th point in 11 games (five goals, six assists) after opening the scoring in Monday's 3-2 setback to Columbus. Jordan Eberle set up both of the Islanders' goals, but the 29-year-old was more interested in the team's self-inflicted wounds as opposed to his five assists in the past three games. "That's got to be the story line the last couple of games; we make mistakes that end up in the back of our net," Eberle said. "We've got to find a way to clean that up because it's uncharacteristic of us."

ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (15-17-6): Robin Lehner has been one of the few bright spots for Chicago this season, as he answered a sterling bounce-back campaign with the Islanders in which he parlayed an NHL-best .930 save percentage into a one-year, $5 million contract with Chicago. While the 28-year-old Swede has posted a 4-1-1 record in seven appearances in December to lift his season mark to 9-6-4, he sees plenty of room for improvement for a Blackhawks club that is languishing at the bottom of the Central Division. "We're not playing the right way," Lehner said. "Consistency is going to come when we consistently play the right way."

OVERTIME

1. Chicago RW Patrick Kane has recorded six of his team-leading 20 goals and 10 of his club-best 46 points over the last six games.

2. New York has allowed a power-play goal in five consecutive contests.

3. The Islanders have dropped seven of their last eight games (1-4-3) in the Windy City.

PREDICTION: Islanders 4, Blackhawks 2