Eyes On Isles
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Islanders Should Start Thomas Greiss In Game 7

By Matt O'Leary|
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 30: Thomas Greiss #1 of the New York Islanders looks on against the Philadelphia Flyers during the second period in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 30, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 30: Thomas Greiss #1 of the New York Islanders looks on against the Philadelphia Flyers during the second period in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 30, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

The Philadelphia Flyers forced a Game 7 with a 5-4 overtime win. The Islanders should make the switch to Thomas Greiss.

Overtime hasn’t been kind to the New York Islanders. For the third time in this series, the Islanders fell in overtime to the Flyers and now the series is tied up at three with Game 7 coming on Saturday.

The Islanders had 53 shots on net, and got a stellar performance from their top line. They were able to score four goals in regulation and once again came back from a two-goal deficit but it wasn’t enough.

In double overtime, Ivan Provorov netted his third of the playoffs to give the Flyers a 5-4 win.

At times tonight, Semyon Varlamov stood tall and looked okay, but specifically on the James van Riemsdyk goal he needed to come up with that save.

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Maybe it caught him by surprise to see JVR shoot from that far out but still should’ve found a way to get a piece on it. Looking at the advanced numbers, Philly had nine high danger chances to the Islanders 17.

Carter Hart bailed his team out, unfortunately, Varlamov wasn’t able to do that tonight. He finished with an .839 save percentage. For the series, Varlamov has an .875 save percentage over five games.

Yes, in the first two series against Florida and Washington he was excellent. But with him struggling to come up with the big timely save and allowing nine goals over the last two games, I think it’s time for Thomas Greiss

Greiss isn’t your average backup, he’s more than capable of playing in the playoffs. Greiss was fantastic in Game 2 in relief and Game 4 getting the start in the Islanders 3-2 win.

In those two games, he has a .949 save percentage and 1.68 goals against average. All year long, and last year too, Barry Trotz played the hot hand. Varly was great for this team but right now they desperately need a spark going into Game 7, and Greiss could do just that.

Again, these goals weren’t all on Varlamov but sometimes you just need to make a change, and now with the season on the line, I think it’s time to switch up the goalies in net.

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In Trotz we trust, in Greiss we trust (potentially), let’s do the thing on Saturday.

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