Islanders hold off Rangers

NEW YORK -- Scott Mayfield, Jason Chimera, Andrew Ladd and John Tavares scored goals to help the New York Islanders to a 4-2 win against the New York Rangers at Barclays Center on Tuesday.
Jaroslav Halak made 36 saves for the Islanders (10-10-5), who extended their point streak to five games (4-0-1). Sixteen of Halak's saves came in the first period.

"It gives our guys a little bit of confidence that we can play with some of the top teams record-wise in the East," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said of the streak, which also features wins against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. "They're a good team and their record says that they are."
WATCH: All Rangers vs. Islanders highlights
Jimmy Vesey and Marc Staal scored for the Rangers (17-9-1), who were 0-for-6 on the power play and lost forwards Matt Puempel (concussion) and Rick Nash (groin) to injury. Henrik Lundqvist made 28 saves.
Mayfield, who was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League earlier in the day, gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead when he beat Lundqvist with a slap shot at 7:03 of the first period.
Chimera made it 2-0 with his third goal in the past four games at 17:24, redirecting Brock Nelson's shot past Lundqvist shortly after Nelson finished serving a four-minute high sticking penalty.
"We had some real good looks in the first period on our power play; their goaltender made some big saves," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "You've got to score those timely goals, and we didn't do it tonight. We had the looks.
"I thought we battled hard. We tried to come back, but their goalie without a doubt was the best player on the ice tonight and we didn't finish on our opportunities."
Vesey scored 56 seconds into the second period when he put Nash's rebound past Halak to make it 2-1, but the Islanders responded when Ladd collected Shane Prince's rebound in the slot and put scored at 2:18.
Staal made it 3-2 when he took a pass from J.T. Miller and beat Halak with a shot from the right circle at 8:54.
Tavares sealed it with a power-play goal at 11:13 of the third period, beating Lundqvist with a wrist shot from the right circle.
"It's a long season," Tavares said. "We've certainly had some ups and downs and some frustration to start the year, some results we didn't get and some things maybe not go our way, (but) we're certainly playing a lot better hockey and we know we can still be a lot better. That's really the mindset."
Nash left the game in the second period because of a lower-body injury. Puempel was injured in the first on Nelson's high stick.

Goal of the game

Prince made a nifty move around Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei at the right circle, leading to Ladd's goal that restored the Islanders' two-goal lead.

Save of the game

Halak was tested early but managed to get his right skate on Mats Zuccarello's shot from the slot 1:35 into the game.

Highlight of the game

With 8:30 left in the second period and the Rangers trailing by a goal, Lundqvist snared Cal Clutterbuck's shot from point-blank range with his glove.

Unsung moment of the game

Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic helped kill Nelson's double minor in the first period when he got down on a knee in the crease to block a shot by Rangers center Derek Stepan.

They said it

"I think every team you play now is going to raise their level. Early on, a lot of things were working for us. But I think it's important for us not to look for any excuses. We need to try to be there every night, as good as we can, as a group and personally. We just have to dig a little deeper. We need a lot from everyone to win in this League, starting with myself. Just dig a little deeper and try to get it going next game." --Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist
"It hasn't necessarily been easy this year for our group. We're aware of that. But it's not going to be easy the rest of the way. Yeah, we've been good for the last couple of weeks, but it's nothing to write home about yet. It's a process." --Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic
"This is a team effort. We need more of these coming up next game, Thursday, and throughout the whole month because we need to keep getting points and keep winning games." -- Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak

Need to know

Vigneault said he won't have a timetable for Nash or Puempel until Wednesday. … Rangers forward Michael Grabner is in Austria attending his grandmother's funeral and was replaced by Marek Hrivik, who was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Monday. … Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk has flu-like symptoms and is day-to-day.

What's next

Rangers: At the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, MSG, NHL.TV)
Islanders: Host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-MW, NHL.TV)