NEW YORK _ If the Blue Jackets miss the playoffs, they can blame Thomas Greiss.
The goalie notched his second shutout against the Metropolitan Division rival as the Islanders, despite being outplayed over the last two periods, earned a crucial 2-0 win Monday night before a crowd of 11,827 at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum.
Greiss, making his third straight start with Robin Lehner injured, stopped 31 shots to extend his career high to five shutouts.
The second-place Islanders (40-22-7) moved back within two points of the Capitals while opening an eight-point gap on the Blue Jackets (38-28-3), who hold the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves for the Blue Jackets, who held a 11-4 shot advantage in the third period. The Islanders' first shot of the period didn't come until Mathew Barzal put one into Bobrovsky's chest at 9:28.
Among Greiss' third-period saves was getting to the right post to stop Oliver Bjorkstrand at 11:58. Anders Lee scored an empty-net goal at 18:30 to finally clinch the win.
The Islanders have won all three games against the Blue Jackets, and Greiss also made 31 saves in a 3-0 victory at Columbus on Feb 14.
But they had started a stretch of eight of nine at the Coliseum just 2-4-0, including a 5-2 loss to the Flyers on Saturday night.
The Islanders and Blue Jackets are a study in contrasts in terms of how the playoff contenders approached the trade deadline.
The Islanders stood pat, trusting the chemistry their group had built. The Blue Jackets acquired top-six forwards Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel from the Senators, physical defenseman Adam McQuaid from the Rangers and goalie Keith Kinkaid of Farmingville from the Devils.
But both teams entered Monday 3-4-0 since the Feb. 25 deadline.
"There's always a transitional point when you make a lot of moves," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "One guy comes in and it affects probably two or three other guys. They brought four guys in. They're just getting comfortable with what your role is, getting a little chemistry. It takes a while. They're starting to get it together."
Trotz altered his lineup and combinations with defenseman Johnny Boychuk (upper-body) unavailable after taking a check from the Flyers' Jakub Voracek on Saturday night that led to the right wing's two-game suspension. Thomas Hickey returned to the lineup for just the second time in eight games since being activated off long-term injured reserve.
Andrew Ladd, a healthy scratch the previous two games, was placed on Brock Nelson's line with Anthony Beauvillier, and Barzal was moved in between Lee and Jordan Eberle.
Right wing Cal Clutterbuck also returned to the fourth line after missing three games with an upper-body injury.
And, on the power play, Trotz moved rookie defenseman Devon Toews to the top unit, with Nick Leddy sliding to the second unit. Still, the Islanders went 0-for-2 on the man advantage and are 0-for-20 over nine games.
Ryan Pulock's eighth goal, the most among the Islanders' defensemen, and his career-high 33rd point made it 1-0 at 6:11 of the first period. He blasted a shot over Bobrovsky's left shoulder from above the right circle.
The Blue Jackets controlled play for stretches of the second period, holding the Islanders without a shot until Pulock's wrister at 7:27. Cam Atkinson, off the rush, hit his second post at 1:03, and Greiss sprawled out to stop defenseman David Savard with his glove at 1:28. But the Islanders did have chances, with Bobrovsky sliding to his left to deny Ladd at 9:24 and stopping Lee on a two-on-one feed from Eberle at 14:02.
