Puck gets bigger as Thomas gets better
TORONTO -- The goaltending issue? The search for a red-hot backstop? Panic in the pipes?
The No. 1 topic in the Hub of Hockey in October, as well as a good chunk of November, has drifted into the background of what is now a 10-9-0-2 Bruins season.
Amazing what happens, isn't it, when the defense actually allows the netminder to see the puck?
"I'm seeing it, and feeling it better now, I guess," said No. 1 Boston backstop Tim Thomas, following his 27 stops Saturday night in the Bruins' 3-1 win over the Leafs at the Air Canada Centre.
Thomas was within eight minutes of blanking the Leafs when Mats Sundin, reaching in behind Zdeno Chara, popped the Leafs' lone goal past the sprawled Thomas. Truth was, the play should have been whistled dead seconds earlier, when Darcy Tucker cut the legs out from under Marco Sturm along the half-wall.
But play rolled on -- Tucker seemed to skate the night away within a bubble of penalty immunity -- and Sundin, the Leafs' captain just back from an elbow injury, gained enough position and leverage to pull Toronto within one.
Just less than four minutes later, Brad Boyes prevented the Bruins from blowing yet another two-goal lead (see: St. Louis, Oct. 12), when he converted a Patrice Bergeron pass from behind the net.
The Bruins, despite Friday's horrendous effort that led to a 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes, have won six of their last eight, and put themselves within striking distance of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The win in Toronto, in which Thomas outdueled former Boston goalie Andrew Raycroft, was the first this season the Bruins haven't won by only one goal.
Beyond Thomas's improved play, a few more things on the uptick of late:
Bergeron's production. Lost for much of October (2-0--2 in his opening five games), while coach Dave Lewis steadfastly refused to reunite the Sturm-Bergeron-Boyes trio, Bergeron picked up two more helpers Saturday and is riding a six-game point streak (2-6--8). He is playing like the Bergeron who is expected, and paid, to blossom into an elite pivot in the next 2-3 years, a vast difference from the out-of-synch version at the start of the season.
The Stanislav Chistov-Phil Kessel-Petr Tenkrat combination, a.k.a. the CRY (Czech-Russian-Yank) Line. Because of their speed and stick skill, they show flashes of brilliance, and might show more if Lewis tears himself away from overusing the underproductive Mark Mowers-Wayne Primeau-Shean Donovan trio. It's sometimes tough to go with the kids, because they make boo-boos.
Marc Savard's overall offense. He smoked home a one-timer in Toronto, ending a seven-game goal drought, but overall his numbers have been especially strong of late. He is 1-6--7 in his last five games, and 6-21--27 for the season. For those who can't let go of the past, ex-Bruins pivot Joe Thornton is 7-20--27, but he has played three more games (24 vs. 21). Jumbo Joe is also a minus-5, compared to Savard's plus-4.
Kevin Paul 
