Islanders Crush Competitors, Extend Winning String to 5!
Magical duo. | Getty Images For the third Islanders game in a row, a team got out to a 3-0 lead and had trouble holding it. This time, however, the Islanders — after lamenting their slow starts — got that early lead only to make things tough on themselves in the third.
Still, they hung on for the two points after the Flames tested them with two goals in the first half of the third period. They received some big saves from Dave Rittich and held on for a 3-2 win that they just had to have, with Columbus nipping at their heels for Metro playoff spots and the Atlantic offering two wild card holders who have more points. [ NHL Gamecenter | Game Summary | Event Summary | Natural Stat Trick ] Things got off to a slow start with only 5 total shots through the first 10 minutes, when Casey Cizikas opened scoring by driving the net and stuffing it until the puck got over the line.
Casey Cizikas opens the scoring for the Islanders. 🎥: MSG | #Flames pic. twitter.
com/ADcl4KRXkd — Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 14, 2026 Simon Holmstrom then added a pair of his own to finish out the 3-0 lead before the buzzer for the first intermission. That included another bit of shorthanded magic with his running mate and confidence guru J-G Pageau. Simon, the shorthanded king, Holmstrom!
pic. twitter. com/YqRAs9XRRY — Rob Taub (@RTaub_) March 14, 2026 Holmstrom’s prior goal came on a feed from Brayden Schenn, which moves the newcomer out of that 58-way tie for 444th all-time among Islanders points scorers.