Goal Line Report
Entries with the tag: Tim+Thomas
The “King” of NHL’s Masked Men
by Patrick Hoffman on 01/03/12 at 09:35 AM ET
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When it comes to the Vezina Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL’s best goaltender after every season, there is one netminder who has been up for it three times and has yet to win.
With the way this particular goaltender is playing right now, fate might have a different answer for him come near the end of June. Of course, I am talking about New York Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
The 29-year-old netminder has simply been outstanding for the Blueshirts this season. In 28 games, the “King” is 17-7-4 with a 1.92 goals against average (GAA), a .937 save percentage and 3 shutouts.
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Tags: Brian+Elliot, Henrik+Lundqvist, Jimmy+Howard, Jonathan+Quick, New+York+Rangers, Tim+Thomas,
Something to Debate on Tim Thomas?
by Patrick Hoffman on 06/28/11 at 06:01 PM ET
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With the Hockey Hall of Fame announcing its inductees today, I figured now would be a good time to bring up a topic that will more than likely spark up a debate both amongst hockey fans and hockey media.
When all is said and done, will Boston Bruins’ netminder Tim Thomas be a candidate to get inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame? This is something that is going to be debated by the hockey media and fans alike since Thomas completed one heck of a season in the National Hockey League this year.
Thomas was the netminder to beat this season as he won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender, the Conn Smythe Trophy as the league’s best player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the ultimate trophy in the sport, the Stanley Cup. Easily a goaltender’s dream season, eh?
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Tim+Thomas,
Why Thomas Should be the Conn Smythe Winner
by Patrick Hoffman on 06/11/11 at 09:40 AM ET
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When all is said and done with the Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks, the Conn Smythe Trophy as the league’s best player in the playoffs should go to Bruins’ 37-year-old netminder Tim Thomas.
Win or lose, Thomas has been by far and away the best player in this series, which is surprising considering that other big players that are involved in this series such as the Sedin twins, Ryan Kesler, Patrice Bergeron, Roberto Luongo, David Krejci and more. With that said however, there should be no doubt when all is said and done.
Looking at Thomas’s numbers in this series, he has gone above and beyond in between the pipes. He is 2-3 with a goals against average of under 2 and a save percentage hovering around 97 percent.
In each game of the series, Thomas has been the best player on the ice not only for the Bruins’, but between the two clubs as well. Sure, there have been some other players in this series who have stepped up but none have stepped up to the degree that Thomas has.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Tim+Thomas,
Bruins Headed to Finals For the First Time Since 1990
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/27/11 at 09:45 PM ET
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Many Boston Bruins fans’ probably feel like this was a long time coming but for the first time since the 1989-90 season, the Bruins are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of -0 in Game 7 at the TD Garden.
This Game 7 had it all. For starters, the game had terrific saves from both Bruins’ goaltender Tim Thomas and Lightning netminder Dwayne Roloson. Roloson did everything he possibly could to give his team a chance to win a hockey game but unfortunately for him, the Lightning were not able to help out on the scoreboard.
Thomas was also solid in picking up the huge victory. He kept things simple, made the big save when his team needed to and of course, ended up with the W.
This game also had lots of guts displayed by both teams. Bruins’ forward Nathan Horton took a nasty shoulder hit in the first period but returned in the second period and scored the game winning goal in the third period.
On the Lightning side, Lightning forward Steven Stamkos took a puck to the nose in the second period. With a huge gash on his nose and with the nose most likely displaced on his face, Stamkos returned and showed what heart and guts he has as a hockey player.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Dwayne+Roloson, Nathan+Horton, Steven+Stamkos, Tampa+Bay+Lightning, Tim+Thomas, Vancouver+Canucks,
A Quick Observation
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/22/11 at 06:00 PM ET
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Looking at the four starting goaltenders for the remaining teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it is easy to see that a few of them have had trouble handling the puck in the Conference Finals’ series.
In Game 1 against the San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks’ goaltender Roberto Luongo put a pass right on Joe Thornton’s stick and Thornton than put it past a diving Luongo to give his team a 1-0 lead.
In Game 4 against the Lightning, there was a miscommunication between Bruins’ netminder Tim Thomas and Bruins’ defenseman Zdeno Chara that led to Lightning forward Teddy Purcell’s first goal of the game. Had Thomas just moved it away from Chara, the play would have been over and done with and the Bruins would have more than likely gotten out of their own end.
In that same game, there was miscommunication between Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson and his defenseman, leading Bruins’ forward Patrice Bergeron to to wrap the puck around the net and put it through Roloson’s legs to give his team a then 1-0 lead.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Dwayne+Roloson, Joe+Thornton, Roberto+Luongo, San+Jose+Sharks, Tampa+Bay+Lightning, Tim+Thomas, Vancouver+Canucks, Zdeno+Chara,
Nice to See Some Scoring
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/14/11 at 08:04 PM ET
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As I am sure many of you folks are, I am watching Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning and it’s great to see some scoring, isn’t it?
Many pundits and fans alike predicted that because of the goaltending and defensive systems, this was going to be a low scoring series. Well, here we are at the end of the first period and it is 3-1 Lightning at the end of the first period in Boston.
Tim Thomas, although he cannot be faulted for all three of the goals, has not looked comfortable in between the pipes for the Bruins thus far so it’ll be interesting to see how he plays in the second period. On the other end, while Tyler Seguin’s goal, his first career NHL playoff goal in his first career NHL playoff game, was a beauty, it was a shot that Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson might have been able to stop.
These teams both have guys that can put the puck in the net and both have guys that will go hard to the net for deflections, rebounds and loose pucks. The Lightning certainly showed that in the first period.
The puck, no matter how good Thomas and Roloson, will go in the net plenty of times this series. You’ll see.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Dwayne+Roloson, Tampa+Bay+Lightning, Tim+Thomas, Tyler+Seguin,
A Brief Look at Two Warriors
by Patrick Hoffman on 05/07/11 at 08:17 PM ET
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I’m obviously talking about the upcoming “battle” between Boston Bruins’ goaltender Tim Thomas and Tampa Lightning netminder Dwayne Roloson.
With Thomas at 37 years old and Roloson 41 years of age, it will be a battle between two goaltenders who are looking to win their first Stanley Cup. Roloson had a good crack at it back in 2006 when he was between the pipes for the Edmonton Oilers until he got injured in Game 1 and never returned to the crease.
Both of these goaltenders are similar when it comes to playing styles. When looking at Thomas, it is easy to say that he is the modern day Dominik Hasek. He may not have Hasek’s stature but what he does have is a terrific compete-level and a willing to do whatever he can to stop the puck. One can easily see this when looking back at some of Thomas’s highlight saves from this past season.
Looking at Roloson, it is almost the same thing. He never gives up on a play but unlike Thomas, Roloson seems to be more of a positional goaltender. Yes, he lunges at pucks sometimes but after making the first save, he usually finds himself in good enough position to make a save on the rebound as well.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Dwayne+Roloson, Tampa+Bay+Lightning, Tim+Thomas,
Tim Thomas is for Real
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/17/10 at 09:39 PM ET
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In their new heritage jerseys, the New York Rangers came out and played a pretty good hockey game despite losing to Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins by a score of 3-2.
The Bruins’ netminder Tim Thomas was terrific in this game in making 34 saves. He was especially good in the third period as the Rangers outshot the Bruins 16-5 but were only able to put one goal by him, which came off the stick of Marian Gaborik.
After playing through an injury last season, Thomas has come back this season and is playing like the Vezina Trophy winner he was in 2009. He looks fast, is seeing the puck well, is giving many second and third efforts to stop pucks and is winning hockey games for his hockey club. With the win, Thomas is now 10-1 so if there are any Thomas doubters out there, one would think that they are singing a different tune right now.
Thomas and the B’s managed to kill off a 5-on-3 Blueshirt power play with less than five minutes to go in the game. He made an unbelievable save on Ryan Callahan and after that save, the Bruins’ settled down and shut the door on the Rangers for the victory.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, David+Krejci, Marco+Sturm, Marc+Savard, New+York+Rangers, Tim+Thomas,
Rangers Get it Done in Pittsburgh
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/16/10 at 09:24 AM ET
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Going into last night’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Consol Energy Center, New York Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist knew that he would have to be at his best.
He was just that last night for the Blueshirts who escaped Pittsburgh with a 3-2 overtime victory on a goal by Ryan Callahan off a great move and pass from Brandon Dubinsky. It was a game that would test the Rangers’ mettle and while not passing with straight A’s, they were able to pick up two points.
As I mentioned above, this game was all about Lundqvist. Lundqvist made 37 saves in stopping the likes of Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, and others. He was lass than three minutes away from a shutout until Chris Kunitz tied the game up at 1-1 and then Matt Cooke made it 2-1.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Brandon+Dubinsky, Henrik+Lundqvist, Marc+Staal, New+York+Rangers, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Ryan+Callahan, Tim+Thomas,
Thomas Accepts Responsibility for Struggles
by Patrick Hoffman on 12/15/09 at 05:09 PM ET
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From friend of the blog James Murphy at NESN.com:
Thomas, who is usually front and center right after every game, win or lose, was uncharacteristically nowhere to be found. While the Bruins lost a game they seemed to have within their grasp, blowing a 1-0 lead after two periods, Thomas had nothing to hide from. After all, he was one of the few bright spots, making 35 saves, and with the exception of losing track of tricky shot by Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen, positioned him and his team to have a chance to win.
Finally, one of the Bruins’ staff members told the media that Thomas wouldn’t be speaking. Yet just as the horde of waiting reporters began to head toward the dressing room exit, out came Thomas waving them back and saying he would talk. No reason was given for the wait, but Thomas wanted to discuss the game just as he does every game and basically anytime he’s requested for an interview.
“That’s my job,” he said. “Sorry for the delay.”
As he stood there addressing the media scrum around him, he acknowledged that he isn’t where he needs to be at this point in the season and that right now he is battling to get back into the form that earned him the Vezina Trophy last season. Thomas said he is taking a day-by-day approach, trying to not get too high or too low.
“I’m just trying to build every day, and trying to get a lot better every day,” Thomas said. “I’m trying to get back to the level I was at last season. So that’s just my focus on a day-to-day basis.”
Click here for more. Thomas had a great season last year and just hasn’t been himself this season. However, let’s not forget the kind of person he is and remember that he is a great guy to stand up for.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Tim+Thomas,
Well Deserved for Thomas
by Patrick Hoffman on 06/19/09 at 09:40 AM ET
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When Boston Bruins netminder Tim Thomas first came into the National Hockey League, I thought he looked like Gump Worsley in goal - and this wasn’t based on playing ability either.
However, after back-to-back successful seasons in beantown, I see Thomas as someone who never gives up, makes the second and third saves, and personifies everything it means to be a Boston Bruin. This is why it was so nice to see Timmy win the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender because it shows that executives around the NHL are taking notice that Thomas is more than a bonafied NHL netminder - he’s the real deal, even at the age of 35.
I believe that this will springboard Thomas to have another fine season in 2009-2010 and will even help him garner consideration to be Team USA’s starting netminder at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. What do you folks think?
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Tim+Thomas,
What A Difference a Year Makes
by Patrick Hoffman on 04/16/09 at 08:15 AM ET
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It’s amazing how much things change over the course of a year in the National Hockey League. A perfect example of this would be the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens, who will meet tonight for Game one of the first round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
About a year ago, these teams met in the first round of the playoffs but compared to this season, the roles were reversed as the Bruins now have the No. 1 seed while the Habs have the No. 8 seed. That’s not the only difference:
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Tags: Alex+Kovalev, Bob+Gainey, Boston+Bruins, Carey+Price, Guy+Carbonneau, Montreal+Canadiens, NHL, Phil+Kessel, Tim+Thomas,
Mike Ross of NHL Home Ice: Spreading the Word About Hockey
by Patrick Hoffman on 12/11/08 at 10:00 AM ET
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As we all know, hockey is a fledgling sport in the U.S. It doesn’t get the coverage it deserves and when it does press, it’s usually for something negative (ahem, Sean Avery).
However, one radio channel/network that steps up when it comes to hockey coverage is XM’s NHL Home Ice Channel. Day in and day out, the channel provides great hockey content to fans all over the world and always has them coming back for more.
Recently, I had the opportunity to do an e-mail interview with one of the channel’s hosts and producers, Mike Ross. “Rossy” tells us about how he fell in love with the game, how he got involved in hockey radio, the channel’s future, this season’s surprises/disappointments and of course, his Stanley Cup predicition.
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Tags: Adam+Proteau, Barry+Melrose, Boston+Bruins, Brian+Duff, Canadiens, Dean+Brown, Gord+Wilson, Len+Barrier, Manny+Fernandez, Maple+Leafs, Mats+Naslund, Mike+Ross, Milan+Lucic, Oren+Koules, Patrick+Marleau, Phil+Esposito, Phil+Kessel, Rick+Vaive, Rocket+Richard, San+Jose+Sharks, Sean+Avery, Steve+Lloyd, Tampa+Bay+Lightning, The+Hockey+News, Tim+Thomas, Todd+McLellan, Vincent+Damphousse, Wayne+Gretzky, XM+NHL+Home+Ice,
An Interview with Seth Rorabaugh of Empty Netters
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/26/08 at 12:30 PM ET
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Good evening folks. For your reading pleasure, please check out the interview I did with Seth Rorabaugh, the Post-Gazette’s Pittsburgh Penguins blogger.
Seth was kind of enough to take time out of his hectic schedule to tell us about how he got into hockey, how he got his start as a hockey journalist, his thoughts of the future of hockey blogs and his prediction on who this year’s Stanley Cup Finals representatives will be.
Enjoy!
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Tags: Alex+Goligoski, Empty+Netters, Frank+Pieterangelo, Kevin+Stevens, Kris+Letang, Larry+Murphy, Mario+Lemieux, Mark+Eaton, Patrick+Roy, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Ryan+Whitney, Sergei+Fedorov, Sergei+Gonchar, Seth+Rorabaugh, Steve+Yzerman, Tim+Cheveldae, Tim+Thomas, Ulf+Samuelsson,
True Test for the Blueshirts
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/15/08 at 11:00 AM ET
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Just over a month into the season, the New York Rangers will have their toughest test of the young regular season campaign tonight at Madison Square Garden: the Boston Bruins.
The Bruins are just three points behind the Blueshirts and are coming off an impressive 6-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. They’ve gotten strong play from guys like Phil Kessel (7 goals), former Ranger Marc Savard (17 points) and from their netminder Tim Thomas, who has a goals-against average of under two goals per game and a save percentage that is close to 95 percent.
It should also be noted that the B’s are tied for the fewest goals allowed, something that could impact the Rangers tonight who typically don’t score a lot of goals on Garden ice.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Chris+Drury, Henrik+Lundqvist, Lauri+Korpikoski, Michal+Rozsival, New+Jersey+Devils, New+York+Rangers, Nikolai+Zherdev, Phil+Kessel, Tim+Thomas,
