The Rangers — accompanied by a cadre of devoted fans — invaded Nassau Coliseum yesterday afternoon, coming away with a scintillating 2–1 overtime victory in a game that boasted a playoff-like atmosphere from start to finish. Rangers center Michael Nylander scored the game-winner on the power play, deflecting a Brendan Shanahan pass past Rick DiPietro, and the Blueshirts vaulted past the Tampa Bay Lightning into sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Meanwhile, the Isles — by virtue of the point they earned by pushing the game to overtime — moved into a three-way tie with the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East (the Isles and ‘Canes both have a game in hand on the Canadiens).

“You can’t be satisfied,” Islanders forward Ryan Smyth said after the game. “We’ve got seven games remaining, and we’ve got to find a way through to capitalize and get two [points] and minimize other teams getting points.”

Yesterday’s game was played with an expectedly high intensity level, the playoff race only adding fuel to the fire of one of the NHL’s most heated rivalries. But although there was plenty of ferocity exhibited by both teams in the form of hard checks into the boards, they managed to keep their cool; any residual anger from the Chris Simon incident took a back seat to the far more important playoff race.

“There is no Simon-Hollweg thing. None,” Shanahan concurred. “The games are too important, and that business has taken care of itself. It wasn’t talked about in this dressing room, and I can guarantee it wasn’t talked about in their dressing room. It’s about getting points.”

The Rangers broke through first, more than halfway through the game, when enforcer Colton Orr followed up on his wraparound attempt by swatting at DiPietro’s glove, overpowering the Isles netminder and giving the Blueshirts a 1–0 lead. The goal was indicative of what needed to be done in order to beat DiPietro and Henrik Lundqvist yesterday; all three goals came with heavy traffic in front of the goal crease.

In the aftermath of last week’s knockout punch delivered to the face of Flyers forward Todd Fedoruk, there was much speculation as to whether players like Orr — known primarily as a fighter — have a place in today’s NHL. But judging from yesterday’s critical goal, Orr’s contributions extend beyond his fists.

It took until the middle of the third period before the Isles were able to finally break through with a goal of their own. After having been on the power play for well more than three minutes (with first Jed Ortmeyer, then Sean Avery called for obstruction penalties), Tom Poti feathered a pass in front to Alexei Yashin, who redirected the puck past Lundqvist to even the score at one.

The score remained knotted through the end of regulation, and the Isles came out flat in the extra session, getting pinned in their zone by the hard-charging Rangers. And when Sean Hill was caught with his stick on the wrong side of Jaromir Jagr’s torso, it provided the Rangers with the golden opportunity they needed to put the game away.

Jagr delivered a particularly strong performance yesterday, generating multiple high-quality scoring chances. He was credited with four shots on goal, but his most spectacular effort didn’t show up on the final scoresheet. Nearly eight minutes into the second period, Jagr charged into the Isles’ zone and slid past Freddy Meyer. The badly beaten Meyer tripped him to the ice, but Jagr somehow still managed to retain control of the puck and fire a laserlike shot past DiPietro. But the puck rang off the post, and the game remained scoreless.

The effort by Jagr, consistent throughout, portends good things for the Blueshirts. Jagr’s shot — though not as fearsome as it was before he suffered a shoulder injury in last spring’s playoff loss to the Devils — is once again an important weapon in his repertoire, making it far more difficult for opponents to focus only on taking away his passing lanes. And if Jagr is in fact back at full strength, he — along with the red-hot Lundqvist — can make the Rangers one of the East’s most dangerous clubs.

That the Blueshirts moved ahead of the Lightning could turn out to be quite important come playoff time. The sixth seed in the East will likely face the winner of the Southeast Division (either the slumping Atlanta Thrashers or, less likely, the Lightning), while the seventh seed will draw a much more difficult opponent.

With seven games remaining, the Devils hold a two-point lead over the Penguins. Needless to say, the Rangers would prefer a matchup against the Thrashers — who will be making their first-ever playoff appearance — rather than a tête-à-tête with either Martin Brodeur or Sidney Crosby.

Mr. Greenstein is the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com.