Chris Kreider had one goal and one assist for the Rangers (53-22-4), who have won three straight. Igor Shesterkin made 25 saves.
The Rangers are in first place in the Metropolitan Division with a three-point lead over the Carolina Hurricanes, who defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1 on Tuesday.
“I thought they had a stronger performance than us. That should be obvious to everyone who watched the game,” Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey said. “They’re playing for their lives and we’ve played against teams in similar situations to them, but I don’t think they’ve ever had that tough of a fight against us. That’s the nature of the game. That was the difference. I thought we were in control for the rest of the game.”
Just 1:25 into the game, Matthew Barzal had a chance to give the Islanders the lead when he latched onto a breakaway by Adam Fox, but Shesterkin stopped the penalty shot attempt with his left pad.
Mike Riley gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 4:12 when his centering pass to forward Barzal deflected off the stick of Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren.
Horvat extended the lead to 2-0 at 11:47 when he redirected Dobson’s shot from the right point.
At 13:38, Kyle Palmieri made it 3-0. Brock Nelson missed the net once from low, but got the puck behind the net and passed it back to the crease, where Palmieri tapped it into the open net and Shesterkin out of position.
Kreider scored a power-play goal at 7:47 of the second period to bring the Rangers within 3-1. Artemi Panarin double-clutched a one-timer, then redirected Kreider in front for a successful shot-through.
“Whenever a team goes into a period down 3-0, they always try to fight back,” Riley said. “We expected it. We certainly had a little bit of penalty trouble. It forced us a little bit and (we) took away from games where we were playing fast, but playing North And it felt like they were behind [defensemen] and create a forecheck. ”
Fox cut the game to 3-2 with another power-play goal at 15:01, scoring blocker-side on a point shot through traffic.
“We played really strong in the first period, which was unbelievable. Then all of a sudden we started spending a lot of time in our own zone and started giving them momentum. And then in the second period, They are gaining momentum,” Varlamov said. Unfortunately we scored on the power play because we were a good team, but going into the third period with a 3-2 lead was pretty good for us. ”
The Rangers outscored the Islanders 13-4 in the third period, but Lee scored an empty-net goal at 19:54 to make it a 4-2 final.
Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad collided with Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech at center ice and left the game at 8:51 of the third period.
“I think we owned the game. The puck was on our sticks the entire second and third period,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was tough tonight because we had to go through all of that. That’s what we’re talking about. It was tough. But our players kept fighting until the end.”
Note: Varlamov has started the past six games and is 5-1-0 with a 2.17 points per game, .939 save percentage and one shutout. …Panarin’s assist was his 70th of the season. He joins Brian Leitch (three) as the only Rangers players to record 70 assists in multiple seasons. … Kreider had a four-game scoring streak. … Dobson has 60 assists this season. He became the only players on the Islanders’ defense to reach the mark, along with Denis Potvin (four times).
