After the review of extensive analysis, Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas can be classified as nothing short of a complete conundrum. During the hockey season, Thomas can shift from one side of the spectrum to the other in the blink of an eye, so much so it has started a swell of conspiracy theories about a potential doppelganger. There were even whispers of pod people.
During the NHL regular season, Tim Thomas looked like he had got his hands on some ambrosia in the off-season (you can only find that stuff on the black market) because he was playing ungodly all winter long. He kept the Bruins in games they should’ve never been in, and he looked like he was ready to take the reigns of the team wagon and lead them towards their first Stanley Cup in almost forty years.
But now it’s a bit of a riddle after watching his sub par (some might say poor) performance against Montreal. Going into the playoffs, every analyst was saying the Bruins had quite an advantage in the goalie category. Thomas made MVP saves all season long, but everyone seemed to forget Thomas didn’t have the best playoff history.
Last year, the Bruins goalie’s injuries, combined with the emergence of Tuukka Rask and his shutdown talent, prevented Thomas from getting a chance to prove his worth once the playoffs came around. Many thought the Bruins would unload him in the off-season (they probably tried), but Tim was in a Bruins uniform at the beginning of the 2010-2011 NHL season. Beaming with confidence, Thomas took advantage of Rask’s slow start and completely dominated as a net-minder.
But oddly enough, Tim’s the only player who could be in the running to win the Hart Trophy during the regular season and then in the playoffs constantly give up juicy rebounds that bounce fifteen feet up in the air. At one point during the season, Thomas looked like Timothy Dalton. Now he’s starting to look like Timmy from South Park. The Bruins won game 7 in the extra period against Montreal, but there were several instances during the overtime where the puck slid right through Boston’s crease and Thomas had no clue it was behind him. And let’s not forget the non-goal in the beginning of game 6, a non-goal, mind you, only discredited by the shear stupidity of the referee.
Is Thomas just a natural choker? He sure doesn’t carry himself like one. You can spot most choke artists a mile away with their wide-eyed, scared puppy look. The Bruins goalie, however, looks cooler than a cucumber. The pressure always seems to roll off his shoulders and into the net just like his opponents’ playoff pucks. But how else can you explain the stark contrast between Thomas’s lackluster playoff performance and his gaudy regular season stats? The puzzling subject seems to boggle the minds of our world’s deepest thinkers.
With the mass squad of Philadelphia Flyers goalies looking strong, Thomas has even more pressure on him to perform. His Stay Puft-soft goals went a little bit under the radar in the Montreal Series since his team ended up winning by the skin of its teeth, but that can’t fly in the second round of the playoffs, especially if his coach and GM want to keep their jobs.
So, who will end up strapping on the pads for the rest of the Semifinal matchup as the Bruins try to avenge last year’s collapse against the Flyers, Superman or Lois Lane?
—–Seth Newton
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