Posted by I will never understand Tim Thomas.
Photo courtesy of Flickr - Courtesy of Dinur
Ever.
In fact, I’ll gladly admit that I’ve never had more of a fickle love/hate relationship with any other Bruin since the beginning of my fandom. I thought he was inconsistent, unconventional and downright sloppy. In fact, I once proclaimed that I would never be able to cheer for Tim Thomas as long as he’s in a Boston Bruins jersey. This was a few years ago, in 2005, when I too once believed that a young Finnish netminder named Hannu Toivonen was going to be the goalie that would solve all of Boston’s Stanley Cup woes. A lot has certainly changed.
It was during the 2007-08 season when I began to change my mind. Hockey was back in Boston and the B’s began to inch closer to the playoffs. A long shot to even be considered for the postseason, Boston surprised hockey fans by inching into the last spot in the East carried by the stabled play of Thomas in net. Playing in 57 games, Thomas picked up 27 wins with an impressive 2.44 G.A.A. Slowly, I began to cheer. I got loud at game 4 in the 2008 playoffs against Montreal. I thought Thomas just might be the answer. I started to believe and Thomas started to deliver.
Last season, Thomas, with his 36 wins, five shutouts and 2.10 G.A.A., won the Vezina Trophy for being the best goaltender in the NHL. Thomas was already a fan favorite around Boston but he was starting to impress one of his toughest critics: me. I felt comfortable going into big games with Thomas in net, despite my occasional cringing and clenching when loose pucks trickled underneath his pads turning into soft goals. All that was forgiven when he’d make his signature big time saves causing Bruins’ commentator Jack Edwards to go into a sort of epileptic shock.
Thus far, Thomas’ eight games started just haven’t impressed me. Is this normal? Probably. But the quality of soft goals scored on Thomas against the quality of saves made just haven’t equaled up.
Take Thursday’s game against the New Jersey Devils. Two soft goals, including the game winning tally with 1:26 left in the game, sank the Bruins with Thomas at the helm. The first was tip-in, trickled underneath Thomas’ pads courtesy of David Clarkson and the second, the sinker, was batted in by Dainius Zabrus behind the goalie.
A tough game to lose too, since the Bruins had played their most complete game of the season on Thursday; sixty minutes of consistent effort turned into a loss after Thomas lost possession of the puck on both occasions.
So what gives? How can Thomas be the Bruins’ savior and yet still have the majority of his 23 goals allowed this season be softees? Am I missing something? How is he giving up goals that could probably be scored by my little brother’s peewee B team but make incredible saves like these?
Thomas started the season poorly against the Washington Capitals on October 1, allowing five goals in a home opening loss. He bounced back two nights later against the Carolina Hurricanes in a contest carried by the Boston offense and truly shined in his first and only shutout against the Dallas Stars on October 16. But there hasn’t been a game just yet where Thomas has carried the team like he did in so many games last season. Last Saturday’s matchup against the Ottawa Senators might be the closest he’s come though giving up rebounds that turned into goals, he stayed solid in the shootout, a distinction usually not used on Thomas.
The other thing is that Tim Thomas is a bit of a nut job, the one trait I actually really like about his character. The Bruins have always been characterized as being the “big, bad B’s.” Bruins players are usually stereotyped as the gritty, tough and anything but glamourous hockey players and Thomas has embodied that entire description, not usually a habit for a netminder. He’s kind of a loose cannon and I kind of love that about him.
Tough as nails, Thomas doesn’t have a problem giving off a shove to anyone who comes even remotely near his crease. Ask Sean Avery, Jason Blake or even Andrei Kostitsyn. All have felt the wrath of an angry Thomas, a goaltender not meant to be messed with. And though we’ve yet to see an aggravated Thomas so far, it’s certainly not out of the range of possibilities. It might even be something that could be called for, igniting a spark under the Bruins.
The verdict is that the jury is still out on Tim Thomas. I think I’ve made progress in my personal fandom, though. I even considered buying a Thomas jersey if he made it through the Eastern Conference playoffs. The 2005 version of me would probably not like that very much.
Tim Thomas is still coming into his own game in Boston and most importantly, he has B’s fans behind him. How many other past Beantown goaltenders can say that? We’ll all figure out if Thomas’ unconventional ways are worth eventually. All of these white-knuckled games and parody videos making our Boston goalie look foolish will all come to a close some day. How, you might ask?
Tim Thomas needs to win Boston a Stanley Cup.
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The lack of offensive support must be extremely frustrating for both of the Bruins’ net-minders. One and two goals-against in the last two games, respectively, and it gets them two losses? That horrible.
I think the goaltending has been the brightest aspect of this year’s Bruins’ team — by far. 3-3-1 in their last seven contests and have saved a combined 185/198. That’s like a 1.90 GAA and .935 SV%. Rock solid.
Next best is their defense.
I’m buying dinner for those guys if I’m a Bruins’ forward.