Staple: Rangers' best offense is defense

The Rangers have gotten to where they are -- seventh place, four points clear of ninth -- through hard work, with some offensive flair thrown in.

The Islanders have gotten to where they are -- not buried in the basement of the East, as they were until December -- by using their speed and youth to put together a respectable run to close the season.

Hard work always wins. Which is why, even though the Rangers didn't exactly put together 60 minutes of lunch-pail, hard-hat hockey Tuesday night, they did enough of the grinding that they've become famous for to put the callow Islanders to bed.

In the process, the Rangers rode a bit of a roller coaster to once again remind themselves that there is one way for them to succeed.

"We want to express ourselves offensively," John Tortorella said, "but we have to play defense first. I don't want to trade chances. I don't think we can win that way."

So Henrik Lundqvist was really the difference, even in a 6-3 game in which the Rangers held a 47-28 shot advantage. Lundqvist kept the Rangers up 2-0 through the first, then didn't allow the Islanders' rally at the start of the second to get them past a tie at 2.

The Islanders are still on the hard-work learning curve. They have some wondrously creative players, and each one of their top-line guys scored a goal, including a neat, midair tap-in by P.A. Parenteau that had the Rangers wondering what happened to their 2-0 lead.

But the Rangers, led by a full effort from all six defensemen and their grinding forward lines, gathered themselves. They turned the game back into the Islanders' zone in the second half of the second, with Ryan Callahan scoring to break the tie and drawing a penalty to lead to a fifth goal, on a five-on-three after a questionable call.

Suddenly, it was 5-2, and it felt like the Islanders were back in November, when they were playing tight and couldn't find a way out of their funk.

"A couple calls went their way, and then they capitalized," Parenteau said. "It was a grind today. We haven't had success against these guys, and we have to find a way. If we want to be a playoff team, we have to beat these guys in our division."

As it happens, the Islanders have a bad track record in this rivalry down the stretch of the last few seasons -- since the lockout, the Rangers are 13-1-3 in post-All Star/Olympic break games against their Long Island rivals.

The Rangers have learned, the hard way, that it's all about hard work over the long haul of a season that not only prepares you for the postseason, but gets you there.

The Islanders, for all the joy of this two-month run, are still a ways away from that level of consistency. Al Montoya has been a great story, but he ran out of gas under the weight of 36 shots in 40 minutes. The Islanders' penalty killers, who have been among the league's best the last 40 games, surrendered three goals in six chances and have allowed nine power-play goals to the Rangers in five games.

The Islanders were even beaten in the faceoff circle 33-25.

This is gut-check time, the time when hard work pays off with games into late April. The Rangers have locked up nothing yet, but they know what they have to do to make the playoffs.

The Islanders know it, too. It was right in front of them Tuesday night.