Greiss lifts Isles over Columbus

The Islanders played tough defense, and Thomas Greiss took care of the rest.

Greiss made 31 saves in his fifth shutout of the season, helping the Islanders beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2-0, on Monday night at Nassau Coliseum.

Ryan Pulock and Anders Lee scored as the Islanders (40-22-7) bolstered their playoff positioning in the tough Metropolitan Division. The Islanders improved to 16-8-1 against divisional opponents.

“We played Islanders hockey,” coach Barry Trotz said. “More than anything, we raised our battle level. That's where it starts. At the end of the day, Greiss made a couple of saves that were key, we got some key blocks and that's how the Islanders win.”

Columbus (38-28-3) lost for the fourth time in six games, dropping into a tie with Montreal for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves, but the Blue Jackets were unable to get to the steady Greiss.

“It's a team that has been able to score goals this year but since the deadline, we've been inconsistent,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “It's frustrating, but I liked the way we played, I liked the way we forechecked. I liked a lot of things about our game but we just did not finish.”

RANGERS FALL IN OVERTIME

Leon Draisaitl scored 35 seconds into overtime and notched a pair of assists, helping the Oilers beat the Rangers, 3-2, in Edmonton.

Connor McDavid and Matt Benning also scored for the Oilers (31-31-7), who improved to 7-2-2 in their last 11 games.

The Rangers lost for the seventh time in their last eight games. Brendan Lemieux and Brett Howden scored for the Rangers (28-28-13), and Alexandar Georgiev made 30 saves. Edmonton jumped in front when McDavid scored his 34th goal shortly after the Oilers went on a power play in the first period. Draisaitl picked up an assist to extend his point streak to 14 games.