NEW YORK — The Rangers are still searching for the five-on-five juice they squeezed out earlier this season, but their longstanding formula of special teams plus goaltending was enough to get the job done Sunday.

They defeated the Islanders, 5-2, in this Madison Square Garden matinee to hand their injury-depleted rival its fourth loss in the last five games.

There's even more to give for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, but this represented an improvement. The Rangers lost two of their previous four while being outshot by a combined 149-94 margin, prompting changes to all four lines and three defensive pairs to begin Sunday's game.

"I can look at it in a way where we have a record of 8-2-1 and we think we can play better," center Mika Zibanejad said. "I would say that's a good problem to have. We do (the lineup changes), come out here, and I think we play one of our most solid games all season. That shows what kind of what kind of team we have and what kind of group we have in here."

Head coach Peter Laviolette has had a steady hand throughout much of his first season-plus on the Blueshirts' bench, but despite squeaking out a 2-1 win in their previous game against the Ottawa Senators, he decided a complete reshuffling was needed.

The end goal was to spark a stagnating offense and tighten up a defense that's been too loose through the first month of the season, with mixed results coming against the Isles. The Rangers played to an even 2-2 score in 5v5 situations while being out-chanced, 30-20, according to Natural Stat Trick, but earned a 2-0 edge in the special teams' battle and received 35 saves from the sizzling Igor Shesterkin.

Was it an effective wakeup call? Perhaps, but it's too soon to render any verdicts about combinations even Laviolette admits, "I don't know how long it lasts or where it goes."

"I've been pretty consistent for 90 games," he added. "And, so, now you come in and you’re going to mix it up. Verbally and from the meetings that we have, there's communication between players and coaches, just to make sure that we understand this isn't the way that we want to play. So, I do think it's a combination. Yeah, there's a shakeup. But yeah, we address those things, too."

Mika Zibanejad: Rangers hope to spark center among slew of lineup changes

Special teams separation

The power play and penalty kill each came through in big spots.

The first 3:13 of play saw the Islanders outshoot the Rangers, 4-0, while keeping them pinned in their own zone. That led a hooking-the-stick penalty on Jacob Trouba, but the call actually worked to the Blueshirts' advantage.

They entered Sunday tied for first in the NHL with a 91.2% success rate on the PK, then went 5-for-5 to boost that percentage up to 92.3% and grab sole possession of the No. 1 spot. The first one set the tone for the afternoon, with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad producing their second shorthanded goal of the season.

"They played awesome," Shesterkin said of the PK. "A lot of blocked shots and smart plays. We work on that a lot in practice."

Ironically enough, Kreider and Zibanejad were separated as part of the sweeping lineup changes Laviolette introduced at Saturday's practice. But he knew better than to split up one of the league's most dangerous PK duos.

They're constantly hunting for takeaways that lead to rush opportunities − it's probably easier said than done, but they could use a similar mindset at 5v5 − and got one right out of the gate Sunday. It started with Kreider batting down a pass attempt from Noah Dobson up near the blue line, then executing a pair of give-and-go passes with Zibanejad before finishing for his seventh goal of the season.

"We’ve got nine years together, so you get familiar with each other," Zibanejad said with a smile. "Obviously, we (still) play on the PK. Most of the chances you get on the penalty kill are going to be two-on-ones, usually, or two-on-twos. He made a great play to me, and just got open. He was ready for a pass back, and I thought the lane was pretty open."

That made it 1-0 with 3:44 ticked off the game clock, with that score holding throughout the first period.

Vincent Trocheck opened the second by notching career goal No. 200, setup by slick takeaway and a nifty backhanded pass from new linemate Reilly Smith. Casey Cizikas crashed the net to bury a Pierre Engvall rebound a few minutes later to cut the Isles' deficit to 2-1, but then the Rangers' special teams struck again.

It was the power play this time, which ended a stretch of four overlapping penalties when Artemi Panarin's wrister from the point snuck under a leaping Trocheck's skate. That pushed the Blueshirts' lead to 3-1 with 8:56 remaining in the second period.

The Isles got one back when Kyle Palmieri deked a diving Trouba and found Brock Nelson for a tap-in finish to make it 3-2 with eight seconds remaining in the period.

"Giving up the goal late in the period, that was tough," Laviolette said. "That brings the game closer, but then I really like going back out for the third period. So, overall, I was pretty happy with all three periods. I thought five-on-five, power play and penalty kill were pretty good."

The Rangers added some cushion when Braden Schneider's shot hit Adam Edström and spun into the net at the 5:18 mark of the third period.

Panarin sealed the win with an empty-netter for his second goal of the game and team-leading ninth of the season, with Zibanejad earning his game-high third assist on the play.

Assessing new lines

None of Zibanejad's three points came at 5v5, but he finished with three shots on goal, two high-danger scoring chances and a plus-two rating in his first game playing with Panarin and Alexis Lafrenière. They failed to score as a line (Panarin's tallies came on the PP and 6v5) but produced the best statistical results of the four new forward trios.

"I thought all the lines were gelling and playing well," Zibanejad said. "I think the good start that we got to the game kind of got everyone's energy up a little bit. We’re excited to play with new guys, too. I’ve with both of them in the past, here and there, but it was fun."

Here's a look at what all four lines generated:

Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafrenière – 11:46 TOI; 0-0 goals; 10-13 attempts; 9-5 shots; 5-2 HD chances

Will Cuylle-Trocheck-Smith – 11:00 TOI; 1-1 goals; 7-16 attempts; 4-11 SOG; 3-3 HDCF

Kreider-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko – 9:13 TOI; 0-0 goals; 10-7 attempts; 5-4 SOG; 1-1 HDCF

Edström-Sam Carrick-Jimmy Vesey – 7:10 TOI; 0-0 goals; 6-7 attempts; 3-4 SOG; 1-2 HDCF

All four lines flashed − the Panarin-Lafrenière chemistry seemed to carry over, while Smith and Chytil were standouts on their respective lives − but consistency will be the next step if they received an extended run together.

Prior to the game, Laviolette pointed to recent hiccups with zone entries and exits, as well as turnovers in transition, as part of the reason the shot totals had been so lopsided in favor of the opposition lately.

"I don't think that we've maintained a presence in the offensive zone," he said. "That alone takes care of some defense."

That inability to advance pucks was prevalent early on against the Isles but improved as the game wore on. The Rangers finished with 14 giveaways after registering 24 in a sloppy performance on Friday.

The result was less pressure on Shesterkin, with the shots he did face posing less of a threat than he's seen in the last couple weeks.

"Not like the last few nights," Laviolette said when asked about Shesterkin's workload. "I thought it was way better. Goaltenders, they're gonna have to make big saves for both teams. That happens every single night. But the quality of the chances, I thought it was less. Did he have to make some saves? Yeah. Was he good? Yeah, he was. But not like three of the last four games, where it just felt like it was kind of one-sided."

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Postgame takeaways: Special teams make the difference in Rangers' win