NEW YORK — Anders Lee scored two of New York's four third-period goals, helping the Islanders beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Saturday.
New York improved to 5-2-1 in its last eight games and remained in position for one of two Eastern Conference wild cards. Zach Parise and Kyle Palmieri also scored, and Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves.
"We need wins, that's just the bottom line," Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. "Doing it while going into the third period being down was even bigger."
Detroit dropped its fifth straight game. Dylan Larkin scored for the sliding Red Wings, and Magnus Hellberg finished with 32 stops.