BOSTON, Mass – Despite the waffle throwing exploits of one Maple Leaf fan this week, there is only one story which has me continually shaking my head in disbelief right now – the return to form of Tim Thomas.
Foolishly I, like so many others, though Thomas days as Boston’s number one goalie were numbered. Perhaps even as an NHL starting netminder. With a $5m cap hit tied to his contract (which runs out in 2013, when Thomas will be 39) it seemed the Flint, Michigan native was destined to sit on the Bruins bench effectively eating a big bag of $10 bills while new star Tuukka Rask minded the Bruins net. A ‘past it’ player with a untradeable contract and nowhere else for Boston to move him, other than to the other end of the bench perhaps
Photo by Lewis Bleiman
Instead, Thomas has bounced back from a poor 2009/10 season.
Following off season surgery which has restored Thomas to his acrobatic best, the Team USA goaltender has gone 14-2-2 in 19 contests and leads the league in shut outs, goals against average and save percentage and has played a huge part in the Bruins stingy efforts in their own end this year. With just 54 goals conceded Boston are tied with Montreal for the best defensive record in the league right now.
It’s an incredible come back in so many ways. After winning the Vezina in 2008/09 it seemed Thomas was finally pulling it together and performing consistently, and was shaping up to help the Bruins take a serious run at a Cup. Then he slumped. It wasn’t a ‘Raycroft style’ fall, but all of Thomas’s numbers slipped perhaps most tellingly going from 36 wins in 54 games to just 17 in 43 as Rask took over the reigns.
And with the slump Thomas was written off. The wrong side of 30. Coming off a bad season with niggling injury problems. And a young goaltender seemingly ready to claim the #1 job outright. Every obstacle, every barrier seemed to be against Thomas. Everyone ‘knew’ Carey price would come good. Steve Mason was never going to have another horror show like his sophomore year. But Thomas?
How wrong we were.
With a quarter of the season now gone, Thomas play is starting to get in to serious territory. His ‘streak’ has gone on too long to be a seen merely as a
Photo by Lewis Bleiman
The wider question is what does it mean for the Bruins?
Their defence is getting the job done and they’ve just welcomed back Marc Savard from long term injury, while Dave Krejci is shaking off injury issues of his own, so Boston’s offence is likely to get stronger and more productive.
Rask has not played poorly either, in fact a lot of other teams would be happy with the play of the young Finn right now! Thus giving the Bruins one red hot goaltender and another good goaltender supporting him.
They say good goaltending is the key to success – Boston have that. They say you need depth to win Cups, do the Bruins have that too? You might argue that, given Montreal’s success in last years play-offs, a red hot goalie and a few clutch forwards can take you just as far and the Bruins may well have that as well.
Perhaps Tim Thomas return to form could mean more to the men in black and gold than anybody expected…
Contact the author: rob.mcgregor@prohockeynews.com
Photographer at Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com
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