Islanders quick start the difference in win over Flames

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.Check, check and check on Saturday night, when a 3-0 first period powered a 3-2 win over the Flames at UBS Arena.It remains to be seen if they can keep it up Tuesday night in Toronto, but here was proof positive that the Islanders can do plenty in the first period.“We had a really good first period,” coach Patrick Roy said.

“We had good jump.… Was pretty pleased with the way we came out.

Part of what we talked [about] before the game, we want to have a good start, and we had the good start we were looking for.”The playing with a lead bit, admittedly, may need some work, as the Islanders let Calgary back into the game in a third that got way too close for comfort.Dustin Wolf, who relieved Devin Cooley after the latter coughed up a three-goal first, was simply excellent for Calgary, giving the Flames a chance to come back.The warning signs started to blare 2:17 into the third, when Mikael Backlund tipped in Olli Maatta’s shot to make it 3-1.Wolf pulled out a showstopper on Cal Ritchie shortly thereafter — his second terrific save off a rebound after robbing Matthew Schaefer late in the second — to keep it that way.

Then at the 8:28 mark, Blake Coleman took advantage of a poorly timed change to cut the lead to 3-2.The Flames didn’t let up from there.The Islanders successfully defended their lead in the end, but it would be hard to claim they played a good 60 minutes.

It took everything, right down to David Rittich’s 30th and final save of the night on Zayne Parekh with 17 seconds to go, to keep the Islanders from being on the wrong end of the comeback effort.“It’s a combination of everything,” Brayden Schenn told The Post.“We’re on a back-to-back, they’re fresh, they’re coming at us.

That side...