Bruins find their groove

“Can’t even get through one [expletive] song,’’ Shawn Thornton, with a smile on his face, complained to the room. “What’s this league coming to?’’

Last night, the Bruins were in no mood to cut their postgame groove short. After all, they were less than two minutes away from a loss to the Senators when they roared back to life, wiped out a two-goal deficit, and sailed back to Boston riding the vibes of a 4-3 shootout victory.

“I just like the fact that when you’re down by two goals with less than two minutes, just to see the guys battle to get back into it, it was a character win,’’ said coach Claude Julien.

Earlier this season, one of the team’s fatal flaws was how it buckled and never fought back after opponents put them down by a goal or two. Last night, the Bruins eliminated a one-goal lead in the second. One period later, they brushed off a two-goal deficit.

“We’re confident,’’ said Derek Morris, who assisted on both third-period goals. “At the beginning of the year, we were sitting back on it. We’d try and figure out other ways to get back in the game. Tonight, we just stayed with it and kept working. Sometimes, it’s going to take a full 60 minutes. It’s not going to go the way you want. But we believe in ourselves. We believe in this locker room. We believe that no matter how we go, we’re going to do it.’’

The Bruins claimed their fifth point in the last three games on a night when Tim Thomas was at his best, playing his unique blend of sound techniques with all-out, style-to-the-wind acrobatics. In the shootout, while Patrice Bergeron beat Brian Elliott with a forehand shot for the only goal, Thomas stood tall enough in the net to force Alex Kovalev and Daniel Alfredsson to hit posts. Then with the win on the line, Thomas held his ground to foil Jason Spezza, Ottawa’s No. 3 shooter.

But Thomas was even better earlier. In the second period, after Blake Wheeler made it a 1-1 game at 17:06, Thomas recorded his finest save of the season. Alfredsson, who had beaten Thomas with a shorthanded goal at 11:31 of the second, had gotten loose again, this time in the high slot. As Alfredsson cocked his stick, Thomas was in a bad spot, all the way on the right side of the crease.

Thomas planted his skates. He launched himself to the left. And a tie-busting Alfredsson goal merely thudded off the inside of Thomas’s left arm.

“My feet were stuck in the mud when he passed to the far side,’’ Thomas said. “That’s why I couldn’t get over in a more traditional manner. I was just hoping that whoever it was, I’d have enough time to get over there. I was glad it was a righty, because it gives me that extra 0.5 seconds.’’

Thomas (27 saves) wasn’t finished. At the start of the third period, when the Bruins couldn’t stand up to the Senators’ onslaught, Thomas sparkled again. Thomas’s best stop came at 5:52 of the third. Jonathan Cheechoo had slipped loose down low and fired a rising wrister on goal. But Thomas flashed his glove and snatched Cheechoo’s shot to keep the score tied at 1-1.

“Timmy was unbelievable,’’ Morris said. “The save in the second was absolutely amazing. He stayed with it.’’

Thomas, however, was overpowered by Ottawa’s third-period barrage. At 9:14, Milan Michalek whirled around Matt Hunwick and beat Thomas five-hole, making it a 2-1 game. Mike Fisher stretched the lead to two goals when he beat Thomas at 11:13.

Ironically, Thomas was on the bench when the Bruins kicked off their comeback. With Thomas pulled for an extra attacker, the Bruins cut the Ottawa lead in half. First, Zdeno Chara pinched down the wall to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Marco Sturm recovered the puck in the corner and fed Morris at the left point. As Morris wound up, Mark Recchi went to his office in front of the net and tipped the defenseman’s slap shot past Elliott at 18:32.

Then with 21.6 seconds left in the third, Morris helped set up another goal. After Fisher failed to clear the zone, Chara stretched wide right at the blue line to open Ottawa’s five-man defensive box. At the same time, Morris had the puck on the left point. Because Chara stretched the box, Morris had a fat diagonal passing lane to David Krejci, who had floated to the right circle. Morris faked a slap shot to throw off Elliott’s timing. Then he slipped a pass to Krejci, who shoveled the puck into the net at 19:38 to tie the game.

“Two great heads-up plays by Morris,’’ said Julien. “He aims for Recchi’s stick for the tip-in. The next one, he’s looking for that back door. He puts his head up and makes a great fake shot to Krejci.’’

Maybe, just maybe, the Bruins of last year are starting to come back.

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com.