Thomas

MONTREAL  — Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas is now a perfect 2-0 in All-Star games, as he earned the victory with two shootout saves in a 12-11 victory by the Eastern  Conference over the Western Conference at the 2009 NHL All-Star Game tonight at Bell Centre.

Thomas had to shutdown Phoenix’s Shane Doan (who won the elimination shootout Saturday night) and Columbus’ Rick Nash to make sure goals by Montreal’s Alexei Kovalev and Alexander Ovechkin would be enough to win the shootout, 2-0.

“It’s an All-Star Game, you want to have fun but you don’t want to really put yourself in positions where you can hurt yourself,”  said Thomas after the victory. “But at that point in a tie game, 19,500 fans, you’ve got to do it.” (more…)

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MONTREAL — Zdeno Chara won the hardest shot competition and Blake Wheeler was the star of the YoungStars game, but they weren’t the only Boston Bruins competitors who got all they could out of the experience of the Honda/NHL SuperSkills tonight at Bell Centre.

Center Marc Savard, who went 3-for-8 in the first round and didn’t reach the second round of the McDonald’s NHL Shooting Accuracy competition, enjoyed a lengthy ride to the final two of the Gatorade Elimination Shootout. Savard, who finished 4-for-7, lost to Phoenix’s Shane Doan despite a pretty goal he snuck past Bruins teammate Tim Thomas.

“He had me fooled. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it,” said Thomas.

“He’s sticking to that story, yeah,” added Savard. “He was kind of giving it to me and I was able to sneak it by.” (more…)

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MONTREAL — It was just practice, but Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas warmed up for his Saturday night Gatorade Elimination Shootout match-up with Washington superstar Alexander Ovechkin by denying the sniper during the penalty-shot portion of the Eastern Conference All-Stars’ practice today at Bell Centre.

After he failed to score,  Ovechkin crashed into the end wall and acted like he was playing dead. Thomas asked him if he was OK, and according to the goaltender Ovechkin replied: “Russian machine never break.”

The quick chat with Ovechkin wasn’t the only memorable exchange of words for Thomas. Prior to  the practice, he got to meet Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Johnny Bower. Bower’s career story (he didn’t reach the NHL until his 31 years old) had a profound effect on Thomas a few years ago. (more…)

Thomas

MONTREAL — Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas is going to face two giant challenges in the Gatorade NHL Elimination Shootout that will conclude the 2009 Honda/NHL SuperSkills Saturday night at Bell Centre.

One of those  challenges came through the luck of the draw and one he brought on himself by choice.

Prior to the Eastern Conference All-Stars’ media availability, Thomas and fellow All-Star goaltenders J.S. Giguere (Anaheim), Niklas Backstrom (Minnesota) and Henrik Lundqvist (NY Rangers) randomly picked up pucks with the names of All-Star shooters on the underside to set up the match-ups for the shootout. In the midst of the draw, Thomas selected Washington  super-sniper Alexander Ovechkin and threw his head back with an ‘oh my’ type of reaction. (more…)

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The NHL has decided to take the All-Star goaltenders off the hook this weekend.

The league, as reported earlier this week by Greg Wyshynski of the Puck Daddy blog at Yahoo!, has opted to go with a “junior-level” goaltender at this year’s Breakaway Challenge during the 2009 Honda/NHL SuperSkills in Montreal Saturday as part of the All-Star weekend festivities.

Last season, Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas and the other All-Star netminders were subjected to the fancy moves of some of the top snipers in the NHL. New York Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro was even injured during the event.

So the Bruins can thank the NHL that Thomas’ psyche and limbs and joints, will not be slapped with a bulls’ eye until the actual All-Star game (during which even Thomas can accept getting scored on by the league’s elite).

MK: Wyshynski makes some celebrity suggestions for goaltenders the NHL could use. Wouldn’t an event like this be the perfect time to try out Islanders owner Charles Wang’s sumo-wrestler idea?

Thomas

During a 2-1-0 week by the Boston Bruins, goaltender Tim Thomas — forced to play every game while Manny Fernandez recovers from injury — was almost unbeatable.

He allowed just four goals and stopped 102 shots. For his efforts between the pipes, Thomas is my Bruin of the Week for the period ending today.

Thomas came up huge down the stretch when the game was still in the balance Tuesday against Montreal. With the club protecting a one-goal lead, Thomas made a highlight-reel save on Andrei Kostitsyn. And the Bruins went on to win, 3-1.

On Long Island Thursday, Thomas was the only Bruins player to bring his ‘A’ game against the pesky Islanders. And the club needed him to make every crucial save. He did, and the Bruins avoided an embarassing loss to the worst team in the NHL.

Although the Bruins lost in Washington, Thomas was still on top of his game against the Capitals. He made 29 saves, including nine on superstar Alexander Ovechkin, who failed to register a point on the evening.

Other candidates this week were center David Krejci (1-1-2, even rating) and defenseman Zdeno Chara (2-1-3, one game-winning goals, plus-1 rating).

Thomas

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — You’ve seen him slam his stick against the ice. You’ve seen him smash it on the crossbar. You’ve even seen him push the net off its magnets and wave his arms in the air.

Typically, when Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas loses a shutout on a late goal, he doesn’t hide his emotions. But tonight when he let in the New York Islanders’ lone goal — a Bill Guerin pass that deflected off David Krejci’s skate with the Bruins protecting a 2-0 lead with 53.2 seconds left — Thomas took it in stride. (more…)

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BOSTON — Even two All-Star Game berths, a solid seven-game playoff series last spring and some gaudy goals-against averages and save percentages the last couple years haven’t made Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas a household name.

Tonight he had a giant chance to impress more people than those American Idol contestants (relatively speaking), and he took advantage. With the game beamed to a national audience in the U.S., and of course shown in Montreal in two languages, Thomas produced maybe his most dynamic performance of the season with 34 saves in a 3-1 win over the Canadiens at TD Banknorth Garden.

“Maybe it was just the year before (last) but every time I played on Versus I had like my worst games of the year,”  Thomas said after the emotional win. “And those are the ones that friends and family from Michigan get to watch the most. So I’m happy this year I’ve had a couple good games on Versus.” (more…)

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BOSTON — The list of doubters of Tim Thomas goes on longer than War and Peace, so to finally be picked to an NHL All-Star Game as a reserve on the first attempt has to be fulfilling for the Boston Bruins puck-stopper.

“It’s part of trying to prove yourself,” he explained, hours before the Bruins were set to face Ottawa at TD Banknorht Garden, while reacting to his selection to the Eastern Conference squad for the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal  Jan. 25. “But it isn’t over. I’ve still got a lot of proving left to do. And I think sometimes maybe keeping that is going to take more work than it was to get that moniker of a good player.” (more…)

Thomas

Picking a Bruin of the Year for 2008 couldn’t have been any more difficult.

The Boston Bruins had a fantastic finish to the ’08 portion of the 2007-08 season and then started historically hot this season. A number of players had career years last season and were on pace to smash their personal-best numbers (if they hadn’t already) by the time midnight struck to signal the start of ’09.

But when it came time to pick the player responsible for the most positive production for the Bruins between January and December ’08, my eyes couldn’t wander beyond the goal crease. Every team tries to build its winning foundation from the net out, and in Tim Thomas the Boston Bruins have that building block that makes everything easier to pile on top. (more…)

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No. 9: He’s always been rejected throughout this hockey career.

Before he emerged as the Boston Bruins’ go-to puck-stopper a couple seasons ago, Tim Thomas had to play in numerous leagues on a number of continents in various countries to keep his professional career going.

Although he’d proved many critics wrong ever since his return to the NHL in 2006, Thomas still couldn’t avoid the snubs. Off to a great start to the 2007-08 season, Thomas was leading the NHL in save percentage and sat ninth in goals-against average when the Eastern Conference All-Star reserves (Thomas had had no chance of starting because he was left off the ballot) were announced. But he wasn’t among those selected and expected to not be heading to the 2008 NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta.

Then just a week and a half later, he was added as a last-minute injury replacement. Thomas proudly ignored the previous insults and went to the game to represent the Bruins at the midseason classic. Thomas’ All-Star selection was important enough to earn its spot among the Bruins’ top 10 moments of calendar year 2008. (more…)

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WILMINGTON, Mass. — Dont’ worry about Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas still stewing in his juices after he was unable to close out the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday in the Bruins’ 8-5 win. Thomas was removed in favor of Manny Fernandez after the second intermission with the  Bruins holding a 6-5 lead.

“Pretty easily,” Thomas said today after practice at Ristuccia Arena when asked how he turns the page after a rough night in the crease. “Say for example, if you get a shutout, you have to turn the page. It’s the same process every time. Plus we won, 8-5. It’s like if you’re a pitcher for the Red Sox but you end up winning 11-10. Who cares in the overall picture? It’s better than losing 2-1 and not getting the run support.”

Of course, it’s taken some time to learn how to deal with disappointment and even jubilation so that he can keep on an even keel.

“I usually turn the page by the next game,” he said.”But I’d probably carry it into the next day a little more (when I was younger). It’s definitely something that comes with experience. Certainly, you have these nights over the course of a career. I’ve had them in Providence, I’ve had them in the NHL – once or twice every year that I’ve been in the NHL. And look around. (San Jose’s Evgeni) Nabokov let up six last night (to Detroit).”

Fernandez

BOSTON — While the Toronto Maple Leafs’ goaltender switch from Vesa Toskala to Curtis Joseph went so awry tonight that head coach Ron Wilson actually switched back to Toskala before the third period, Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien’s goaltender swap was  just  what the doctor ordered.

Although more than half of Toronto’s five goals that eluded Bruins starter Tim Thomas went off other players’ body parts (including one of Bruins defenseman Mark Stuart’s hand), it was obviously a rough night for the All-Star. So Julien called on Manny Fernandez for the third period, and the Bruins’ other goalie responded with 13 saves to close out the Bruins’ 8-5 win over Toronto at TD Banknorth Garden. (more…)