Thomas Greiss is now locked into the biggest moment of his professional career.
On Tuesday, Islanders head coach Jack Capuano ruled out No. 1 netminder Jaroslav Halak for his club’s opening-round playoff series against the Panthers, per the New York Daily News.
That means -- barring a dramatic turn of events -- Greiss, who’s held the starting gig since Halak got hurt in early March, will start a playoff series for the first time since breaking into the NHL eight years ago.
Greiss, 30, is coming off his finest campaign, in which he went 23-11-4 with a .925 save percentage and 2.36 GAA. But it was also the biggest workload of his career -- his 41 appearances nearly doubles his previous high of 25 -- and the first time he’s ever carried a full-fledged starting gig.
Which is why this series against Florida will be pretty compelling.
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