he said with a laugh. "Im too emotional when I play poker and I lost like an idiot.

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. Basketball Shoes Sale . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. Fake Basketball Shoes . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. https://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.com/ . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. Cheap Basketball Shoes China . -- Playing time has been limited for Maxim Tissot this season, so the Montreal Impact defender made the most of his first scoring opportunity on Saturday. Discount Basketball Shoes . As the crowd erupted, Davis knocked the ball off the glass and back into his hands. With 1:14 to go in overtime, Davis sixth block also became his 17th rebound. That, along with his 32 points -- which tied a career high -- proved too much for Denver to overcome, and the Pelicans held on for their third straight victory, 111-107 on Sunday night. MONTREAL -- Dont look for Georges St-Pierre to become a coach when his fighting days are over. But the mixed martial arts champion seemed to enjoy being a teacher for a day on Friday as he led a small group of newbies through the basics of kicks, blocks and chokeholds. "Twelve years ago I was teaching delinquent kids in a program for the government and it was a lot of fun," the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight king said. Not enough to want to be a coach, however. "I loved it, but I dont know if I like it that much to do it every day," he said. "I like teaching kids better than adults, to tell the truth." St-Pierre spent an hour at his training base at Tristar Gym teaching the MMA basics to a contest winner and others from across Canada chosen by a sponsor, the NOS energy drink. They learned how to throw a leg kick without getting clobbered by a punch, how to block a kick (never with the hands) and other moves. Contest winner Lawrence Pernica of Vancouver called it "unreal. "Ive really enjoyed watching him fight. Ive been a fan of his for years." St-Pierre is on a bit of a break since posting his 11th win in a row, a unanimous decision over Nick Diaz on March. 16 at the Bell Centre. He opens training camp in September for his next bout Nov. 16 against Johny Hendricks. Earlier this month, he was in Las Vegas to play a little poker and watch Chris Weidmans stunning victory by second round knockout over Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight title. The loss ended Silvas record 17-bout undefeated streak that began in 2006. "Im happy for Weidman, hes a friend and a training partner," said St. Pierre. "It couldnt happen to a better person. "He lost his house, he has (two) kids and now hes going to start making more money. "Im not surprised at the result. I predicted he would win, but I should make it clear: Im not happy Silva lost. Im happy that Chriss won because hes my friend.dddddddddddd" Weidman lost his home during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. UFC boss Dana White pushed for a super-fight between Silva and St-Pierre, even though the St-Isidore, Que. native would need to go up in weight class against the Brazilian. St-Pierre did not rule that out for sometime in the future, but for now, he is thinking only of Hendricks, while Silva will be concentrating on his rematch with Weidman, which is expected in December. While in Vegas, St-Pierre took part in the World Series of Poker. He hung in till the end of the first day before opting to go all-in on a hand and going bust. His tournament ended early for a second year in a row, but he said he is not a gambler at heart. "I did a stupid move at the end," he said with a laugh. "Im too emotional when I play poker and I lost like an idiot. "It was the last hand of the day and it was either go to the next round with a big pot of money like a champion, or lose like an idiot. And I lost like an idiot." St-Pierre is looking forward to fighting in Las Vegas again. His last four have been in Canada, with three of them before home town crowds in Montreal. "Vegas takes a lot of pressure off me," he said. "Promotion, for example. "When I fight here, I do it in English and French, so I do twice what my opponent does. And the last one, my opponent (Diaz) did nothing at all. So that will give me a little bit of a break." Still, he hopes to fight at least once more in Montreal before he gives up MMA. The 32-year-old is asked repeatedly when hell retire, but he has no idea. "Its not happening yet," he said. "Im in better shape than people think. I have no injuries. Im fit." St. Pierre will get plenty of help while training for the Hendricks bout. Famed boxing coach Freddie Roach and Thai boxing champion John Wayne Parr are among those slated to take part. ' ' '