UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The way the Islanders played Tuesday night is the way they must play and the way they haven’t played enough of late.
Their struggle to score, either five-on-five or on the power play, dissipated because they were focused in the offensive zone, attacking the crease with a no-frills persistence and decisively winning their forechecks. They were structured defensively with great support from the forwards.
And, as usual, the goaltending was superb.
In all, a 6-1 win over the Rangers on Tuesday night before a sell-out crowd of 1,400 at Nassau Coliseum after a 1-2-0 road trip. The Islanders (29-13-4) pulled even with the Capitals atop the East Division, with those teams playing three times in a row starting Thursday.
Josh Bailey returned to the lineup after a two-game absence with an undisclosed injury with two goals and an assist. He was put on Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s third line with Anthony Beauvillier and the streaky Beauvillier had a goal and three assists and Pageau added a goal and an assist.
Varlamov made 25 saves, continually denying the Rangers before the Islanders broke it open with a three-goal third period.
Islanders coach Barry Trotz said choosing between Varlamov and rookie Ilya Sorokin, who made 30 saves in Sunday’s 1-0 overtime win in Philadelphia for his third shutout, was actually easy.
"If they’re both playing well, why couldn’t it be?" Trotz said. "I’ve been pretty fortunate. I’ve got two No. 1s, in a sense."
Varlamov entered Tuesday 16-9-3 with a 2.24 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. He made a season-high 41 saves in his previous start, Thursday’s 4-1 loss in Boston in which the Islanders were outchanced, 33-11, in the first period.
Bailey capped a strong first period for the Islanders, making it 1-0 at 17:42 as he poked Pageau’s backhand feed to the crease past Igor Shesterkin (22 saves).
It marked the Islanders’ first goal in regulation play in 174:46, stretching to Travis Zajac’s second-period goal in a loss at Boston on Thursday. The Bruins also beat the Islanders, 3-0, the next night.
It became 2-0 at 1:38 of the second period as Brock Nelson got low in the slot and deflected defenseman Nick Leddy’s shot. Beauvillier’s power-play goal at 5:45 gave the Islanders a 3-0 lead. Again, it resulted from getting a puck toward the net. Defenseman Noah Dobson’s shot was deflected right to Beauvillier in the right circle for a one-timer.
The Islanders’ power play was 0 for 10 on the road trip and 1 for 19 over the last seven games.
Varlamov was more than justifying Trotz’s goalie decision, tracking Mika Zibanejad’s power-play one-timer at 3:52 of the first period, stopping Zibanejad again as he got to the crease at 15:51 of the second period and stoning Brett Howden on successive in-tight shots at 18:30 of the second period. Kevin Rooney, deflecting Brendan Smith’s initial shot, did bring the Rangers within 3-1 at 11:04 of the second period.
Pageau’s one-timer off Beauvillier’s feed made it 4-1 at 7:44 of the third. Beauvillier also set up Bailey at 10:16 and Jordan Eberle capped the scoring off a rush at 11:22.
