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Think Tim Thomas will change his ways after Game 2? Think again

Boston Bruins v Vancouver Canucks - Game Two

VANCOUVER, BC - JUNE 04: Tim Thomas #30 of the Boston Bruins skates off the ice after Alex Burrows (not pictured) #14 of the Vancouver Canucks scored a goal in overtime to win Game Two of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Arena on June 4, 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

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After Boston’s tough Game 2 loss in overtime to Vancouver that saw Alex Burrows score on a relatively easy wraparound goal, there were some fans and analysts who hoped they would see Tim Thomas not be quite so aggressive in challenging shooters. We mentioned in our Five Thoughts today that Thomas was doing just fine without the collective critiques from armchair coaches across North America and that letting him do his thing was the right way to go.

With today being a rest day for both teams, Thomas had a chance to talk to the media and the first question he heard at this afternoon’s press conference was asking him about his aggressive style. Thomas took the opportunity to set things straight in his own fun way.

Q. Tim, wanted to ask you about when you’re a goaltender that comes out of the net a lot, when you challenge the way you do, do you think your defensemen and teammates maybe have to defend a little bit differently expecting that? Is there any room or need for you to make adjustments with regard to that?

TIM THOMAS: No. I have a pretty good idea of how to play goalie. I’m not going to be taking suggestions or advice at this time (smiling). I’m just going to keep playing the way I have.


Playing the way Thomas has in the playoffs has served him pretty well to this point as he’s posted some outstanding numbers in goal. Thomas has posted a 2.27 goals against average and a .930 save percentage in the Bruins’ 20 games in the playoffs. While he’s down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup finals, asking him to change things up in his game now would be like asking the Bruins to put their third string goalie in, it just wouldn’t make sense.Bruins coach Claude Julien backed his goaltender up when he spoke with the press today and he was a bit more pointed in his thoughts.

Q. When you have a goalie like Tim, there’s going to be instances where he’s aggressive and gets himself into a tough spot but make spectacular saves. Do you have to accept that in your goaltender and not expect to change him in any way? Do the players have to adjust around that?

COACH JULIEN: I think all year long we’ve played in front of Timmy Thomas. To me he’s a Vezina Trophy winner. We are here right now because of his contribution, which has been really good. For us to be sitting here having to answer those kind of questions is ridiculous to me.

He’s won a Vezina Trophy already, as I mentioned. He’s probably going to win one this year, in my mind anyway, for what he’s done.

The question is, is his way of playing is really looking for something to talk about. Yesterday he made some unbelievable saves to keep us in the game. So if we want to focus on that last goal, which I think a lot of other players could have done a better job, I think it’s focusing on the wrong thing.


You can’t say that Thomas doesn’t have the support of his head coach and Julien bristles at this talk appropriately so. Without Thomas the Bruins are already back at home and counting down the days to next season. Where Julien wants to see from the other players, namely his defense, is stronger play in front of his goaltender.

Guys like Zdeno Chara, Andrew Ference, and Johnny Boychuk have to play better in order for the Bruins to succeed. If they’re not in the right place on the ice, turning the puck over, or committing bad penalties the Bruins might be in better shape in the finals. While those guys aren’t the only problem Boston’s facing right now (they could get better play from their forwards too) they’re the most obvious one. They haven’t been terrible, but they’ve been just bad enough to hurt the Bruins.

If you want to keep pointing the finger at Thomas as the reason why they’ve been losing, it’s a free country and you can do that, but of the four goals he’s given up in the finals only one, Burrows’ first goal in Game 2, is the only really regrettable one and that came on the power play. There’s always more than one culprit to be found when a team loses and in this case the obvious one isn’t the guy who’s allowing the goals.