NEW YORK -- The New York Islanders are playing their best hockey of the season, and theyre doing it against some of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.Andrew Ladd scored in the second period and Jaroslav Halak stopped 36 shots to lead the Islanders to a 4-2 victory over the crosstown-rival Rangers on Tuesday night. John Tavares, Jason Chimera and Scott Mayfield also scored at Barclays Center to help the last-place Islanders improve to 4-0-1 in their last five games.Were playing a lot better hockey and we know we can still be a lot better so I think thats really the mindset, Tavares said. Lot of games here before Christmas. ... We know we can still do a lot of good things `til then. Were just starting the second quarter of the season.The Islanders last three wins have come against defending champion Pittsburgh and the Rangers -- tied atop the Metropolitan Division -- and Washington, which sits in one of the conferences wild-card spots.No secret if you want to make the playoffs, be a good team, you gotta beat some of the top teams in the league and certainly being able to do that has been big for us, Tavares said. Even though there still needs to be a lot of improvement, I think we all recognize theres some good building blocks going.Jimmy Vesey and Marc Staal scored for the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 28 saves. The Rangers have alternated wins and losses in regulation in their last eight games.I think its important for us not to look for any excuses and try to be there every night as good as we can, said Lundqvist, who fell to 1-6-1 in his last eight against the Islanders. Just have to dig a little deeper to get there.The Rangers went 0 for 6 on the power play, including a 6-on-3 advantage with Lundqvist pulled over the final 32 seconds.You gotta score those timely goals and we didnt do it tonight, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. We had the looks. I thought we battled hard. We tried to come back but their goalie without a doubt was the best player on the ice tonight and we didnt finish on our opportunities.After the Islanders took a 2-0 lead in the first period, the Rangers twice pulled within one but couldnt tie it before falling behind by two again.Vesey knocked in the rebound of a shot by Rick Nash for the rookies ninth just 56 seconds into the second to cut the deficit in half.The Islanders restored their two-goal lead 1:22 later when Shane Prince drove the net and had the puck poked away by Lundqvist. It went right to Ladd, who fired it in for his third.Staal pulled the Rangers to 3-2 when he took a pass from J.T. Miller on a 4-on-2 rush and fired it by Halak from the right faceoff dot for his third at 8:54. The assist gave Miller a team-high 20 points on the season.Tavares restored the Islanders two-goal lead off a pass from Josh Bailey from the top of the right faceoff circle on the power play for his seventh with 8:47 left in the third.Its always important to win games, Halak said. Beating the division rivals, its always huge for us, its always a four-point game. Coming out with two points against the Rangers is always a fun game to play.The Islanders were outshot 16-9 in the first period but took a 2-0 lead into the intermission.Mayfield got his first of the season in his third game as he took a pass from Cal Clutterbuck and fired a slap shot from near the boards outside the right faceoff circle past a screened Lundqvist at 7:03.The Rangers Matt Puempel was down on the ice for several minutes and left due to a concussion after taking a high stick from the Islanders Brock Nelson, who was whistled for a double-minor. The Rangers controlled the play for most of the four-minute power-play, firing eight shots at Halak, who stopped them all.Just as the penalty was expiring, Chimera brought the puck up the ice, waited for Nelson to join the play out of the box and sent the puck to him at the right side. Nelson skated up and fired a shot that bounced around in front, and Chimera knocked it in with 2:36 left for his fourth of the season and third in four games.Game notes The Rangers were without F Michael Grabner, the team-leader with 13 goals, while the former Islander was back in Austria for his grandmothers funeral. ... The Islanders improved to 8-1-2 when scoring at least three goals, 7-0-1 when leading after two periods, and 7-1-3 when scoring first. ... D Mayfield was called up from Bridgeport of the AHL to take the place of Johnny Boychuk, who was scratched due to flu-like symptoms. ... The Islanders had their second sellout of the season, and first since the opener against Anaheim on Oct. 16.UP NEXTRangers: At Winnipeg on Thursday night in the middle game of a three-game road swing.Islanders: Host St. Louis on Thursday night in the finale of a three-game homestand.---Follow Vin Cherwoo at www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP. Wholesale Jordans From China . 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Paul Georges buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter spurred a 21-4 run, finally sending Indiana past the Magic 97-87 in a tougher-than-expected opening night matchup. A free beer from your mate is usually something youd be happy about.But Ricky Stuart hopes hes the one shouting a cold one on Saturday night, not Craig Bellamy.The NRL coaches will face off for a spot in this years grand final, with Bellamys Melbourne hosting Stuarts Canberra at AAMI Park.Only once before have they gone head-to-head at the helm in a finals match - in 2008, when a Stuart-led Cronulla lost to the Storm 28-0 in a preliminary final at Sydney Football Stadium.But the pair go way back.Back to the late 1980s and early 90s when they both played for the Raiders.Were best of mates, Stuart said.They regularly share texts and phone calls and bag each other out.Not even the ferocity of finals football can turn them into enemies, with the two still chatting throughout this week as they have done all season.Yeah, Ive been talking to Craig, Stuart said.I dont enjoy coaching against him though.I prefer not to coach against friends, but its a bit different this week.Well just go about doing our jobs the best we possibly can for our clubs and we both hope we win.I want to beat Craig, he wants to beat me.But its not about us. We dont have to play. Its about the boys annd weve just got to get them prepared as best we possibly can.ddddddddddddFew other coaches in the NRL can appreciate, or even understand, the passion Stuart has for his club as much as Bellamy.But, according to Stuart, the Storm mentor is no different and has plenty of purple pride.Were pretty similar personalities Craig and I - although Im a lot happier than Craig, Stuart smiled.No bets have been wagered between the pair, but theres one tradition that will stand regardless who wins.The winner always goes into the other shed and takes a beer, Stuart said.Hes been doing a lot of shouting over the past 10 years, so I hope Im taking a beer into him.RICKY STUART V CRAIG BELLAMY:Games played for Canberra - Stuart: 243 v Bellamy: 149Head-to-head record as coaches: Stuart 5 v Bellamy 10NRL games coached - Stuart: 318 v Bellamy: 366NRL games won as coach - Stuart: 156 (49.1%) v Bellamy: 245 (66.9%)NRL premierships as coach - Stuart: 1 (Sydney Roosters, 2002) v Bellamy 1 (Storm, 2012; stripped of titles in 2007 and 2009 for salary cap breaches) ' ' '