Simon Holmstrom scored twice and the New York Islanders raced to an early lead and held on to beat the Calgary Flames 3-2 on Saturday. Casey Cizikas also scored for New York and David Rittich made 30 saves as the Islanders won for the third time in four games.

The Islanders wanted to start strong. They wanted to take a lead and play with a lead. They wanted to stop digging themselves a hole in the first period, something they’d done in seven of their first eight games following the Olympic break.

After a slow start to his season, New York Islanders forward Simon Holmstrom has righted the ship. Over his last two games, No. 10 has been more engaged, and it's shown up on the scoreboard with goals in back-to-back games. Islanders Holmstrom Continues ...

Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman scored third-period goals, and Dustin Wolf pitched nearly 40 minutes of shutout hockey, but the Flames fell 3-2 to the Islanders Saturday at UBS Arena. Simon Holmstrom's short-handed goal stood up as the winner,