CHICAGO _ In case the Blackhawks needed another reason to keep Robin Lehner beyond this season here's one more: He's even better than usual when facing his old teams.
Dennis Gilbert scored his first career goal, and Lehner stopped 38 shots to beat the Islanders, 5-2, Friday night at the United Center in his first game against the team with whom he was a Vezina Trophy finalist last season.
Lehner, who also previously played for the Senators and Sabres, improved to 10-1-3 in his career against his former teams. More importantly, the Hawks rebounded after getting blown out by the Devils at the United Center in their final game before the holiday break.
In their first game since learning Brent Seabrook and Calvin de Haan are out for the season with injuries, the Hawks (16-17-6) came out smoking with three first-period goals. The Islanders came into the game with 49 points, tied for fourth-most in the league.
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead less than six minutes the game, but the Hawks quickly rebounded with three goals in 4:22. Gilbert found his way into the slot, and after taking a pass from Dylan Strome put in a soft backhander to tie it at 1.
A little more than two minutes later, Dominik Kubalik completed a give-and-go with Patrick Kane to score his 11th of the season. After Alex DeBrincat made it 3-1 on his ninth goal to snap an eight-game goal drought, the Islanders replaced goalie Thomas Greiss with Semyon Varlamov.
A high-sticking call on Mattew Highmore early in the second period gave the Islanders the first power play. They had five shots on net and nearly scored when a puck straddled the goal line, but Duncan Keith was there to sweep it away.
The Hawks killed each of the Islanders' two power plays and have allowed just one power-play goal in 18 chances in their last eight games.
The Hawks put the game away in the third period as Jonathan Toews scored his ninth and Highmore tallied his third career goal and first this season.
