Thomas Puts Pressure Aside to Help B's Win
Sunday, 04.22.2012 / 9:24 PM
/ Features
By John Bishop
- BostonBruins.com
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WASHINGTON, DC - There have been certain aspects of their game that have worried the Boston Bruins, but goaltending has not been one of them.
"No, I've never really worried with Timmy," said B's alternate captain Patrice Bergeron after Game 6. "He's a competitor. He's a battler, and everything he's been through to get here tells a lot about him and his character.
"So I wasn't very worried about him."
Thomas made 36 saves on Sunday and helped put his team into yet another Game 7 and gave the Bruins a chance to continue their Stanley Cup title defense.
"You know, I pride myself on doing the best I can every night and doing the best I can to help the team when our back's against the wall," said Thomas. "I was trying to help them out, so hopefully I did, but they stepped up and helped themselves out, too."
Rich Peverley, David Krejci, Andrew Ference and Tyler Seguin all scored for Boston and ensured that the B's run, which has been downright storybook worthy since their hearbreaking Game 7 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010, continued for at least one more game.
"The whole team [performed]," said Thomas. "You've got, obviously, Tyler again, with a kind of a coming of age goal - an overtime goal.
"Krejci getting his first goal of the series, [Milan] Lucic might not have showed up on the scoreboard, but just the fact he had that extra gear today helped us out.
But none of the B's thought that the Caps would simply roll over for the 2011 Stanley Cup champs and once the game hit overtime, Thomas simply tried to focus.
"[The pressure] crosses my mind, but I do my best to block it out as soon as possible," he said. "You realize that especially in this time for us, one shot and our season's over.
"So, by the time the puck's dropped, you've got to make sure you get that out of your head and you're ready to make the save.
"More than, I think, hoping not to get scored on, you have to be ready to make the save."
And thankfully for the B's, much more often than not, that's exactly what Thomas does, game-in and game-out; he makes the saves.
"No, I've never really worried with Timmy," said B's alternate captain Patrice Bergeron after Game 6. "He's a competitor. He's a battler, and everything he's been through to get here tells a lot about him and his character.
Thomas made 36 saves on Sunday and helped put his team into yet another Game 7 and gave the Bruins a chance to continue their Stanley Cup title defense.
"You know, I pride myself on doing the best I can every night and doing the best I can to help the team when our back's against the wall," said Thomas. "I was trying to help them out, so hopefully I did, but they stepped up and helped themselves out, too."
Rich Peverley, David Krejci, Andrew Ference and Tyler Seguin all scored for Boston and ensured that the B's run, which has been downright storybook worthy since their hearbreaking Game 7 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010, continued for at least one more game.
"The whole team [performed]," said Thomas. "You've got, obviously, Tyler again, with a kind of a coming of age goal - an overtime goal.
"Krejci getting his first goal of the series, [Milan] Lucic might not have showed up on the scoreboard, but just the fact he had that extra gear today helped us out.
He's a competitor. He's a battler, and everything he's been through to get here tells a lot about him and his character. So I wasn't very worried about him. - Patrice Bergeron on Thomas
"Peverley, again I can go through basically all of us that were here today and that's what it took to come out of here with a win," said Thomas who added, "And even having said that, it was still hard."But none of the B's thought that the Caps would simply roll over for the 2011 Stanley Cup champs and once the game hit overtime, Thomas simply tried to focus.
"[The pressure] crosses my mind, but I do my best to block it out as soon as possible," he said. "You realize that especially in this time for us, one shot and our season's over.
"So, by the time the puck's dropped, you've got to make sure you get that out of your head and you're ready to make the save.
"More than, I think, hoping not to get scored on, you have to be ready to make the save."
And thankfully for the B's, much more often than not, that's exactly what Thomas does, game-in and game-out; he makes the saves.
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