The Islanders were patting themselves on the back again yesterday after playing a game in which they felt they out-worked the Devils for a hard-earned 3-2 shootout loss. The Isles continue to try pulling positives from just hanging in there and they kept on talking about how they deserved better, and how 47 games into the season, they’re just taking baby steps.

You think Miro Satan thought the Islanders would be taking baby steps from January into February? You think he thought the Isles would be a team desperately searching for positive parts of a game they just lost with the clock ticking down on what is fast becoming a lost season, when he could have signed with anyone as a free agent in August?

No, this is not what Satan had in mind. Not even close.

“I think everybody expected the Islanders, before the season, you look at our lineup and the players we have, everybody expected we’d be playing better and have a higher position in the standings,” Satan said yesterday after scoring goals in the third period and the first round of the shootout against Martin Brodeur. “It didn’t happen for whatever reason, and as a team we have some work ahead of us right now. We have to look at it as a challenge and work through it.”

Ever since Brad Shaw inherited the head coaching job from Steve Stirling, Satan has been visually putting out, working a lot harder and moving his feet more than he did at any point earlier in the year. Recently put on a line with Mike York and Trent Hunter, the unit is now considered the Isles’ top line and accounted for 18 of the team’s 39 shots yesterday.

Hunter hit the left post behind Brodeur in the shootout and the Isles again came up short, taking their one sliver of pride in the fact that they worked as hard as their opponents. But then again, aren’t you supposed to play hard every night?

“Nobody likes to lose,” Satan said. “All you can do is try to keep your head high and try to work through it.”

evan.grossman@nypost.com