That “Anchorman” quote gets trotted out too easily these days, but Thomas Greiss and the New York Islanders could have gotten away with a “that escalated quickly” on Sunday.
(Or would it be the Calgary Flames that would say that? If so, Sean Monahan was wielding the trident.)
Despite a busy first period, things were 0-0 with a little bit more than five minutes remaining in the opening frame ... and then it all fell apart. The Flames scored four goals in that short period of time, prompting the Islanders to bench Greiss to begin the second.
You can watch all four of those goals in the video above this post’s headline. In Greiss’ defense, the Flames fired 21 shots on goal in that first period, the sort of output you sometimes see from a full game (granted, a really boring game, but it’s fairly common).
Thomas Greiss, arguably NYI's best player in first (which is really saying something) gets the hook after 20.
— Wes Gilbertson (@WesGilbertson) March 5, 2017
Both teams are in tough playoff positioning races, so we’ll see if the Islanders can muster up a fight in this one.
Greiss had company on Sunday, as Matt Murray only made it through the first period against the Buffalo Sabres.