Tim Thomas, the Yes Man for Boston Bruins against Vancouver Canucks in 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals
Tim Thomas literally led his team, Boston Bruins, to a victory in Game 3 against Vancouver Canucks in the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Finals at the sold-out TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, on Monday, June 6th.
Thomas realised that it was now or never if Boston was to have a chance at lifting the Stanley Cup by winning this game and he was the player who stepped up his game to a whole new level and performed beyond expectations.
Boston won the much needed Game 3 and saved Bruins from being thrown on the edge of elimination after losing two consecutive games in Vancouver.
Even though Canucks outshot Bruins 41-38, the 37-year-old goalie from Flint, Missouri, blocked 40 of those shots while the opposing goalkeeper, Roberto Luongo, only managed to divert 30 of 38.
It was not because Luongo was less capable but Thomas’s dedication to his team and whole hearted playing in the net that ultimately led Bruins to its first victory in a Stanley Cup Finals series, it has reached after 21 years.
Fans might think that Canucks has given up and Boston is ready to win its first Stanley Cup since 1972, but Thomas is on a whole different level regarding his thoughts.
"We're more back in it than we were before the game", Thomas said. "I didn't even mean that to be funny. What I mean is baby steps. ... If we won the next game, then I'd be comfortable saying we're right back in it".
He was not NHL’s leading goalie throughout the regular season in absence of a good reason. The extremely talented goalkeeper maintained the best saves percentage, .938%, along with the lowest goals against average, 2.00.
Whatever the situation might be in the upcoming game, Game 4, which is the last in Boston before heading out to Vancouver again, Thomas has been with his team for over seven years now and is finally reading and working towards his first Stanley Cup title.
Comparing him with Luongo would be an inaccurate analysis since both have totally opposite ways of working and Thomas is working for now, the present.
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