Greiss starts for Islanders, gets pulled in Game 1 loss in Eastern Final

Thomas Greiss was the starting goalie for the New York Islanders but was pulled in the first period of a 8-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Monday.

Semyon Varlamov entered the game at 10:46 with New York trailing 3-1. Greiss allowed three goals on nine shots, and Varlamov allowed five on 25 shots in 48:29.
Game 2 is in Edmonton, the hub city for the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final, on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS).
Greiss made 16 saves for the Islanders in a 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 7 of their second-round series at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Saturday. He was 2-1 with a 1.08 goals-against average and .960 save percentage in three games (two starts) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs entering Monday.
"The plan has taken some twists and turns," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said after the Game 1 loss. "Obviously, I went with [Greiss] in Game 7, knowing that we had travel, there's a fatigue level, all that, going into a Game 7 and trying to get the fresh guy in net. With [Greiss], he didn't have a lot of work in that Philly game in Game 7, so I felt like after a shutout, you never want to take anything away from someone who gets a shutout. It's hard to do in the National Hockey League, and it's hard to do in the playoffs.
"[I] went back with [Greiss] and really there's not a whole lot our goalies could do tonight on a lot of the chances. We need more help from the five guys in front of him as well. I was just sort of looking to change the narrative of that first period and slow it down."
Brayden Point gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 1:14 of the first period. Jordan Eberle tied it 1-1 at 4:33, but Victor Hedman (8:12) and Ryan McDonagh (10:46) scored on slap shots 2:34 apart later for a 3-1 lead.
Trotz then pulled Greiss.
"Great move by Point to start it off, and then a couple of snipes to follow that up pretty quickly after," Islanders captain Anders Lee said. "That's not Thomas' fault by any means."

The change slowed things down for the remainder of the period; New York limited Tampa Bay to one shot on goal after the switch. But Lightning forward Yanni Gourde scored his first of two goals 4:03 into the second to make it 4-1, and Point scored on the power play at 13:18 for a 5-1 lead.
Tampa Bay did not miss the net on any of its shot attempts until forward Cedric Paquette shot wide with 1:07 remaining in the third period.
Point (two goals, three assists) and Kucherov (one goal, four assist) each had five points.
"We gave them a little too much space, plain and simple," Trotz said. "[We were] watching rather than participating too much. You can't do that against Tampa."
Varlamov started 14 of the first 16 games for New York this postseason. He entered the conference final 9-4 with a 2.00 GAA, a .921 save percentage and two shutouts but allowed nine goals on 63 shots in his past two games, both overtime losses that allowed Philadelphia to tie the series.
Greiss and Varlamov alternated the first 33 starts of the regular season before Varlamov seized the No. 1 job.
Greiss was 16-9-4 with a 2.74 GAA and a .913 save percentage in 31 games (29 starts) during the regular season. He will be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Varlamov, who is in the first season of a four-year contract, was 19-14-6 with a 2.62 GAA, a .914 save percentage and two shutouts in 45 games (39 starts).
Regardless of which goalie starts Game 2 against the Lightning, the Islanders know they have to tighten things up defensively if they hope to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1984.
The Islanders last allowed eight goals in a playoff game in an 8-3 loss to the Flyers in Game 2 of the 1980 Cup Final, which the Islanders would go on to win in six games.
"I mean, it's never good to get blown out. It's embarrassing," New York forward Matt Martin said. "We didn't envision that, obviously. But at the end of the day, Game 2 is now the most important game. We don't want to go down 2-0 to a very good hockey team, so our goal is to get a split here and obviously we're playing on the same ice, but they do have the home-ice advantage in the series. If we go 1-1 with us getting last change, at the end of the day we would be happy with that.
"We'll put this one behind us. I still have a ton of confidence in our team and our group. We'll move forward and correct some things and get back on the wagon."