Thomas Greiss didn’t sit on his laurels long after the Islanders were eliminated in five games by the Tampa Bay Lightning with Greiss taking the helm in net. He flew to Russia today to join the German national team at the 2016 World Championship, reports Newsday’s Arthur Staple.
Through three games Germany is 1-0-1-1. They are back at it with a tough match against Canada on Thursday. Greiss will presumably be in net for the German club, who is currently playing with Felix Bruckmann (Grizzlys Wolfsburg, DEL) and Timo Pielmeier (ERC Ingolstadt, DEL) as their goaltending tandem.
It was a significant season for Greiss, who played a career-high 41 games for the Isles. He also suited up for all 11 postseason games, despite having been tagged as the backup to start the season.
A strong performance during the regular season and an injury to Jaroslav Halak cemented Greiss into his first real starting gig, and his only playoff run outside of a partial game appearance for the San Jose Sharks in 2010.
The situation with Greiss taking the reins didn’t seem to sit well with Halak. He said he didn’t like the three-goalie situation, which presumably encapsulates the fact that four goaltenders grabbed games for the Islanders this season and Halak, when healthy, was playing with constant speculation over whether it was him or Greiss that should be taking the lion’s share of the minutes.
