Access the Rangers beat like never before

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.

There haven’t been many Battles of New York in recent memory with as many playoff implications as the last couple games between the Rangers and Islanders.

And for the second time in a week, the Blueshirts asserted themselves in the Eastern Conference postseason race with a definitive 4-0 victory over the Islanders — one of several teams they are vying against for a playoff spot — to move into a tie with the Red Wings for the second wild-card spot.

“It sometimes works for you like a snowball, if you keep going, and then just keep scoring, keep winning — that’s confidence,” said Artemi Panarin, who posted two points, including an empty-net goal, in the win. “You’re making better decisions with the confidence that you get.”

Whichever way this one went, it was going to have significant meaning for the winner.

That it was the second-to-last game before the trade deadline for both teams only added to the magnitude.

The Islanders were three points behind the Blueshirts coming into the game, with just a single point separating the six closest teams in the East looking from the outside in on the postseason bracket.

That gap ballooned to five as the Rangers picked up their fourth win in their past five games.

“The first game after break we came back and we gave up eight,” Braden Schneider explained. “I think we really wanted to focus on making sure we were communicating in our own end and sorting things out as quick as we can. I’ve thought we’ve done a really good job of that [since].

“We’ve been able to keep things to the outside for the most part and then blocking shots, taking guys out of the play when we can. Everyone’s buying in. It’s awesome to see and it’s obviously working for us.”

In a showdown between the two star New York goaltenders, the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin came out on top of the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin with a 20-save performance to give his team two shutouts in a row after Jonathan Quick posted one the night before.

It was a solid all-around effort from the Rangers, who were competing on the second night of a back-to-back schedule.

Islanders head coach Patrick Roy opted to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, scratching forwards Pierre Engvall and Anthony Duclair.

They have lost seven of the past eight meetings with the Rangers.

The Rangers weren’t exactly a force through the first 20 minutes, but they still came away with a 2-0 lead after some puck luck and a shorthanded opportunity.

It was technically the Islanders who found the back of the net first, however, when captain Anders Lee snuck one past Shesterkin off a tough angle.

The Rangers challenged for offside and were successful, keeping the game scoreless with 8:24 left in the frame.

Zac Jones’ shot then deflected into the air and bounced off Will Cuylle’s helmet and in to open up the scoring for real.

“A real beauty,” head coach Peter Laviolette said with a smile. “One he’ll remember probably for the rest of his life.”

Earning a secondary assist on the play, J.T. Miller extended his point streak to six games before adding a goal later in the night.

It gave him his second straight two-point game and his sixth since returning to New York, bringing his point total to 14 (seven goals, seven assists) in his first 11 games with the Rangers.

The Rangers were called for too many men on the ice twice in the first period, giving them the second most in the league this season at nine.

Sam Carrick then led a shorthanded rush and dropped the puck for Will Borgen, who lasered one bar down for the 2-0 lead.

“I think it just gives us confidence,” Borgen said of the back-to-back shutouts. “We know we have to play that way every game to try to make playoffs. It’s a close race right now, so all the points matter. Every game is a playoff game, so we just have to keep playing that way.”