VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The longest road trip of the season came at the right time for the New York Islanders.

A goal midway through the third period from defenseman Thomas Hickey gave the Islanders a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night. New York earned its fourth win in five games on its current seven-game road swing.

Left winger Anders Lee, who also scored for the Islanders, said the time away from home is helping New York focus on the task of trying to nail down a playoff spot.

"When you go on the road, you are with the guys all the time," said Lee, who scored his 10th goal of the season. "You kind of come together a little bit. At this point of the year, when it's a little bit of the dog days, that time is really important.

"You have to play simple hockey. You're not turning the puck over as often. You just have to be that much more smarter."

The Islanders were outshot 33-24 and needed some big saves from goaltender Thomas Greiss to get the win.

"Our goalie sort of bailed us out there and we got lucky," said Hickey, who also had an assist. "To be honest, it's not a really good hockey game for us.

"The positive thing is you end up winning, but to a man in here, I think we all understand that's not going to win too many hockey games."

Greiss agreed the Islanders made too many mistakes.

"It wasn't our prettiest game, but we got the win," he said. "Good teams win anyway, and we found a way."

Hickey scored the winner at 12:55 of the third, just 2:03 after Vancouver left winger Daniel Sedin tied the game 2-2. Hickey took a shot from the blue line that deflected off Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev and past goaltender Jacob Markstrom.

It was that kind of night with all three of the Islanders' goals going into the net after deflecting off Canucks defensemen.

"It was one of those games where they were all kind of garbage a little bit," said Lee, who scored when his second-period shot bounced off Vancouver defenseman Ben Hutton. "You take them and roll with it.

"You kind of expect it this time of year because teams are taking that much more responsibility in the defensive zone."

Defenseman Travis Hamonic also scored for New York, which is in third in the Metropolitan Division, three points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Islanders (34-20-7) are 5-1-1 in their past seven games.

The Canucks (24-26-12) dominated long stretches of the game but still lost for the second consecutive night and sixth time in eight games.

"We had a few bad breaks tonight," Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins said. "I thought our team played well.

"We worked real hard. We deserved better. We had chances, they didn't go in, but I thought it was a real good effort from our players."

Right winger Linden Vey, on the power play, scored the other Canucks goal. Vancouver remains eight points out of the final wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Daniel Sedin, who scored his 24th goal of the season on an assist from center Henrik Sedin, said the Canucks played with enough effort to win.

"If we get that each and every night, we are going to be a successful team," he said. "I think that has been missing on and off this year.

"Right now, I will take this effort. We will get our wins if we do this."

On another night, the bounces might have gone Vancouver's way.

"Over an 82-game season, if you play well enough, you get those bounces more often than not," Daniel Sedin said. "If you get this effort every night, we are going to get those bounces, too.

"We can't have it for two or three games, then not have it for a couple of games. It's got to be each and every night."

NOTES: The Canucks scratched RW Jannik Hansen, who sustained a rib injury in practice. ... Vancouver RW Radim Vrbata missed his third game with a groin injury. ... D Matt Bartkowski, who missed Sunday's game with the flu, returned to the Canucks' lineup. ... Vancouver D Yannick Weber was a healthy scratch. ... The Canucks recalled C Brendan Gaunce from AHL Utica. ... Vancouver ends a five-game homestand Thursday against the San Jose Sharks. ... LW Shane Prince was a healthy scratch in his final six games with Ottawa before being traded to the Islanders on Monday. ... New York D Calvin de Haan returned to the lineup after missing five games with a lower-body injury. ... Islanders D Marek Zidlicky, G Jaroslav Halak, LW Eric Boulton, and D Brian Strait were healthy scratches. ... The Islanders continue their road trip Thursday in Winnipeg.