From my viewpoint on the other side, TT is THE reason the Bruins won the Cup. 

Regardless of his flakiness, Bruins fans should place him in a cherished spot in their collective memory.

So many people talk about Luongo's failure, but when one of the top scoring teams in the league couldn't get pucks past him, that's TT being brilliant, and winning the Cup for the Bruins.  The concept that fans in the Garden would actually boo him is beyond me.

Just my opinion. 

 

 

 

In response to 49-North's comment:

 

From my viewpoint on the other side, TT is THE reason the Bruins won the Cup. 

Regardless of his flakiness, Bruins fans should place him in a cherished spot in their collective memory.

So many people talk about Luongo's failure, but when one of the top scoring teams in the league couldn't get pucks past him, that's TT being brilliant, and winning the Cup for the Bruins.  The concept that fans in the Garden would actually boo him is beyond me.

Just my opinion. 

 Your team was outscored by 15 goals in the Finals and Thomas scored none of them. Act as if it was just a hot goalie that beat you all you like but the fact remains, the Canucks just lost to a better team. But hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.

 

 

 

 

In response to dezaruchi's comment:

I agree Dez, TT's play was a big piece of the puzzle, but in the overall scheme of things it was the Boston Bruins who beat the Vancouver Canucks, but you have to understand, coming from a Canucks perspective, it's a much easier pill to swallow & easier to say that TT was great & "BOOBY LU" suked, then to admit that the Bruins played better, scored more, hit harder (CLEANLY) & played the game like men instead of girls (no offence Red).  

TT was great.  It's a huge reason why the bruins hoisted the cup.  All the people that voted him MVP of the playoffs agree.  

A hot goalie in four 7 gm series.  A Vezina winning goalie.  He was amazing.  

No question TT was great but dez is right, you can't discount the fact that the B's fed off the pressure and raised their game to the next level, while the Nucks wilted like the school girls that they proved to be.

In response to hangnail's comment:

Sure they did.  They also won some games 1-0.  

this wasn't a niemi like win with the hawks.  This was one of the best dominating goalie performances that enabled the boston organization to win the cup.  If a poll was done and they asked who the most essential player was in Boston's cup win who do you think would be picked a majority of the time?   The answer lies with the same group that chose him as MVP    

Montreal.  One shot away from vacation.  

Tbay. one shot away from vacation

van.  Shutout in game 7 on rd.  

waiting for mr error picker upper to call out my one mistake.  

Ya shupe but not in game 7 which was really when they had to perform and didn't... I wouldn't call it an official choke job but they had home ice and failed.  The B's on the other hand rose to the occasion.

Shupe you have to get rid of that ipad, your posts look like my 14 year old daughter's texts

I just don't understand what this team is going to do with 11 million bucks in cap space.

Certainly Thomas deserved the MVP, but I have to agree with Dez that it was a consumate team effort.  When poeple chalk up that series win to having a hot goalie, it makes me think they didn't actually watch it.  The whole tide turned in the 3rd game after the Horton hit and the shenanigans of the first two games.  Up and down the lineup the Bruins raised their game and none of the games the Bruins won were close.  The Sedins shut it down, Luongo was bad, Marchand played the best hockey of his life, Krejci was consistently effective, Chara and Seidenberg looked dominant...where do you stop?  When you win 4 games by an average of 4 goals, it's a joke to say they rode a hot goalie to the championship.  They lost two close ones and then spanked the Canucks in 4 out of 5.  TT was great.  So was everyone else.  The offense was simply dominant.  A classic team win.

More to the point, Chia made a very shrewd move yesterday.  I haven't heard one reasonable argument to the contrary.

In response to Olsonic's comment:

Save it for Rask, Horton and Ference next fall ?

In response to shuperman's comment:

And Quick was even better last year but it doesn't mean they still could've won without Brown or Penner or Richards or Doughty, etc. Yes, someone is given the Conn Smythe trophy each year. That still doesn't discount what everyone else had to do to win. Frankly, Thomas was the easiest choice simply because there were too many Bruins skaters that played integral parts to choose just one. Nobody would've batted an eye if any of DK, Bergeron, Marchand, Chara or Seidenberg would've won it. For me, it was actually Horton through 3 rounds and Marchand in the Finals.

Well all I can say is that I was & still am TT's biggest supporter & believer. He put together one of the greatest goaltending displays that I've ever seen in my life time. From the start of the season to the end & it looked like he was getting stronger after his 82nd game of the season. The B's needed Timmy to play the way he did in order to win. No question about it, but Timmy needed the B's too. Chara blocked that shot in the 1st period in game 7 against the Canucks while TT was down & out. If they would've scored first? Who knows what would've happen. TT was probably the biggest piece of the puzzle, but you need ALL the pieces no matter how small it maybe to complete it.

Having said this...I wouldn't be one itty bit surprised to see him come back next year & bring the Islanders into the play-offs & win a round or two. Not saying it'll happen, but I wouldn't be surprised. He thrives on doubt & naysayers! 

Sure did, shupe.  They also lost some games 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-2. How about this:

One goal games:

W. vs. MTL - 5-4, 2-1, 4-3.  L vs MTL - 2-1.

W. vs. Pha - 3-2.

W. vs. TBY - 6-5, 1-0.  L. vs TBY - 5-4.

                        L. vs. Van - 1-0, 3-2, 1-0.

6 of their 16 wins were one goal games.  6 of their 9 losses were one goal games. In 3 of those one goal wins, the Bruins had to score 4+ goals.

The usual story about Grant Fuhr is it wasn't that he never gave up goals, he just never gave up the key goal.

Thomas was great. Wouldn't dispute that.  But in the games they won, the Bruins scored an average of 4.125 goals per game.  That regular season, only two goalies in the entire league played more than one game and recorded a GAA higher than 4.125 - Mikko Koskinen and Mike Brodeur.

Thomas was huge. He let them run the dogs and gave them huge confidence. But he won the Vezina [Edit: Smythe - durh] because it was a total team effort and when that's the case, the easiest guy to single out is the goalie.

Eastern conf. finals game 7

Stanley cup finals game 7

Stopped 61-61

0 goals allowed

Against the Lightning and Canucks

 

J Quick is real good and had awesome stats against the NJ Devils, but that doesn't compare to what TT did. There is no higher level a goaltender ever played on. Give the guy credit where it's due, he earned it -

In response to JWensink's comment:

 

Eastern conf. finals game 7

Stanley cup finals game 7

Stopped 61-61

0 goals allowed

Against the Lightning and Canucks

 

J Quick is real good and had awesome stats against the NJ Devils, but that doesn't compare to what TT did. There is no higher level a goaltender ever played on. Give the guy credit where it's due, he earned it -

 

Yeah, sure thing. Quick doesn't compare. I'm not sure how breaking his records isn't worthy of comparison. Get over it already. TT was good. Quick was even better. Unlike what you provided, it's not just an opinion. Those are facts (brought to you by the Selective Highlighter).

Thomas 2011-1.98 GAA and .940 SP

 

Quick in 2012-1.41 GAA and .946 SP

In response to dezaruchi's comment:

Dez, I agreed with you all along, but the stats don't tell the full story. The Canucks were near the top of the league in goals for. N.J wasn't.  Quick was sensational & had a fantastic season too. Both goalie's deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. Putting one in front of the other is nit picking. 

This post has been removed.

In response to Bookboy007's comment:

Sorry Book, but when TT when 8-0 to start his run in 10-11. The B's weren't scoring 4 goals a game. They weren't even playing great hockey. Matter of fact Tryandbearit & myself were on here complaining about the lack of offence & said they couldn't score for Rask to save their lives. TT was the main reason they had a winning record to start the season. In a game they won 3-2 against the Caps they were up 3-0 after 1 period. Got out shot in the 3rd 26-2. There were a lot of games they had no business being in early in the season. 

In response to JWensink's comment:

WT????

In response to JWensink's comment:

Nice, classic Wensink.  He says Quick didn't compare to Thomas.  So Dez points out that Quick broke Thomas's record last year.  Also won the Vezina, also won the Cup.

The response...all political -- "Dez is a communist". 

When you can't hang with the big boy arguments, this is what you do.  Run from the facts, go to the insults.  Exactly why Wensink never gets any respect here.

No reason at all to discuss Thomas' politics here and I think everyone is giving him due credit.  He was fantastic, he deserved the Vezina, but if you think the goalie "won them" the Cup, you just don't understand team sports and you probably didn't watch the series.  As I said, I'd still give him an ovation at the Garden for what he did in 2011.  But the Bruins are bigger than the individual to me.  It's a team game.  

In response to NeelyOrrBourque's comment:

Agreed Nite, but I certainly wasn't the one claiming Quick's performance "doesn't compare". Quick also didn't just beat the Devils. He went 16-4 with series one being against those same Canucks. Let's not forget the Kings were the 8th seed. No team has ever faced a more difficult road so when Jwens says Quick "doesn't compare" to TT it just seems like an outrageous case of homerism. Quick broke his records. He bested his GAA by more than a half goal per game. It's not only comparable, it's a huge difference. They each won 16 games. TT lost only 9. Quick lost only 4 games. The .57 difference in GAA is likely a big reason why Quick didn't lose as many times right? I think both goalies played great for their teams and I'm happy with Rask moving forward. Go Bruins!

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