Anders Lee and Brock Nelson each had two assists for the Islanders (12-8-2), who scored on their first two shots. New York has won back-to-back games and is 9-1-0 against the Metropolitan Division this season. Three of those wins have come against Carolina.
"I think we have a good understanding of their game," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "This is the third game that we've played them. You've got to be in certain lanes, you've got to protect certain areas of the ice and you don't allow them what they do really good. They pressure and they break you down and they get inside positioning and all those things that teams want to do against you. I thought we did a pretty good job."
WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Islanders highlights]
Justin Williams ended Greiss' shutout with 6:37 remaining in the third period, and Scott Darling made 15 saves for the Hurricanes (11-9-3), who had won three in a row and were 5-1-1 in their previous seven games.
Carolina entered averaging 40.5 shots per game but was held to 27 against New York.
"We wouldn't have beat a minor-league team. That's what we looked like out there tonight," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I don't even think they played well. It was a gross game for two periods. They capitalized on mistakes we gave them, and they hunkered down."
Valtteri Filppula made it 1-0 at 3:39 of the first period when he took a pass from Leo Komarov at the Islanders blue line, skated into the Hurricanes end, cut toward the net and split two defenders before flipping a backhand shot over Darling.
