Recap: Islanders 4, Rangers 2

For the New York Islanders, getting their fourth win in five games was the most important thing in Tuesday's 4-2 win over the New York Rangers at Barclays Center.
Getting that win against an archrival? That's just gravy.
"It was a big win," said John Tavares, who scored the Islanders' fourth goal. "We overcame some a few things today. The penalty kill did a heck of a job and Jaro obviously. Nice for our power play to step up when we had one of our chances there and we just got contributions from everybody."

Tavares, along with Andrew Ladd, Jason Chimera and Scott Mayfield accounted for the offense, but the penalty kill and Jaroslav Halak (36 saves) were the foundation of the win. The Islanders went 6-for-6 shorthanded, including a game-changing, four-minute kill in the first period. As for Halak, 13 of his 36 saves came shorthanded.
"He was dialed in tonight and for your penalty kill to go good, he has to be your best guy," head coach Jack Capuano said. "He definitely was in the first period tonight."

Halak was lunging all over the net in the first period double-minor, but also got some help from Travis Hamonic who dropped down in the crease to stop Stepan with Halak down and out. Hamonic, who played 4:28 shorthanded, said the penalty kill - which is 19-for-19 over the past seven games - was ready to play on Tuesday.
"Our kill was good, it's been a strong point of the last couple of weeks," Hamonic said. "Guys are sacrificing, it's not easy to block shots, it's not easy to be in those trenches. When you get a team that gets a lot of power plays, you have to be ready - and we were."
The Islanders killed off Brock Nelson's four-minute high-sticking call and he repaid them in quick fashion. Nelson stepped out of the box, corralled the puck, led a rush and put a shot off Chimera's leg to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead at 17:24, seven seconds after his penalty expired. The goal was Chimera's third in his last four games - all Islanders wins.

"Brock came out of the penalty box at the right time," Chimera said. "I think the defenseman got a stick on his shot. It went to the net, deflected off my shin pad and in."
The Rangers responded early in the second, as Jimmy Vesey made it a 2-1 game 56 seconds into the second period, but the Islanders quickly answered. Shane Prince's one-man forecheck led to a Henrik Lundqvist turnover right to Andrew Ladd, who touched the puck into a relatively empty net at 2:18.

But the Islanders were not able to limit the NHL's highest-scoring team to just one on Tuesday. Marc Staal cut into the Islanders lead midway through the period, finishing a tic-tac-toe play on a 4-on-2 Rangers rush.
Up 3-2 in the third period, the Islanders' power play got in on the action, with Tavares snapping a mid-range wrister past Lundqvist at 11:13. The Rangers had one last power play chance to tie it up, but couldn't convert on the man advantage, or a 31.6 second 5-on-3.

As enthusiastic as the sold out Barclays Center crowd was, the Islanders were even-keeled postgame, recognizing that Tuesday's win - and their point streak - needs to become one of many.
"We have to get going," Chimera said. "We've dug ourselves a little bit of a hole and now we're trying to claw back. We've been playing some good hockey lately. Just have to keep rolling."

Mayfield Recalled, Scores:

Mayfield was recalled by the Islanders on Tuesday morning to replace Johnny Boychuk, who was sidelined with the flu on Tuesday night. Mayfield did his best Boychuk impression, teeing up a slap shot along the half wall and beating Henrik Lundqvist at 7:03 of the first period.

Next Game:

The Islanders are back at Barclays Center on Thursday when they take on the St. Louis Blues. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.