Going to preface this thread by saying that I expect Semyon Varlamov to get all of the starts in this series, but here I am going to make an argument that Thomas Greiss should start this afternoon's Game 2.

Hear me out.

This series contains an anomaly of a double back-to-back, which essentially compounds the workload on everyone. There is absolutely no way that Varlamov is not going to start Game 6 and Game 7 (if necessary). He should because he earned it.

That means it's possible the Isles will play 7 games in 10 days, which is pretty crazy to think about.

But let's talk about the *advantage* the Isles have right now. They won Game 1, and winning 1 of the next 2 B2B games gives them a solid 2-1 lead heading into the weekend.

Because Philadelphia is losing, they *have* to start Carter Hart today... and likely tomorrow (if not, Elliott is going). Either way, it gives the Islanders a distinct goaltending advantage on Thursday if they start a rested Varlamov.

The worst case scenario if you start Greiss? He stinks and it's a 1-1 series. But at least you have your (rested) starter ready to go against a tired goalie and tired teams w/ last change. Sounds pretty nice.

If Greiss can pull out a W, all the better... of course.

Playing Greiss is a risk. He hasn't played a game in a month. He could be terrible. But it doesn't matter if the Isles lose 6-1... it still only counts as one victory for Philly. And again, your rested starter is ready to go the next day.

Yes, you can potentially give him a start tomorrow with a 2-0 lead, but it's hard to set expectations with the goalies properly (conditional ifs with a short lead time seems... ehhhh for prep). So I think this really only works if you start him today esp. given the off-time.

Like I said, I think Varly will get all of the starts and the arguments are pretty obvious why that's right... I'm just here to offer a different perspective. A little game theory, if you will.

NYI has a nice little advantage - it opens options. That's the point of this thread.

I'm quite glad this thread has sparked some really good discussion on both sides of the coin. I'm not even sure I would pull the trigger on Greiss if I was Trotz, but it would definitely be a consideration. Fun to think about the different possibilities!