Thornton was referring to one first-period decision that he made in the NHL’s standard frame of play: an instant. Yet it was that decision, plus one more late mistake by the Boston defense, that saddled the Bruins with a setback on a night when they played one of their better 60-minute games this season.

And it was Thornton who led the Bruins with five shots in 12:45 of ice time, as the fourth line of him, Steve Begin, and Byron Bitz put together one of its best efforts of the season.

Cruel.

“I can’t say I’m disappointed with the way we played,’’ coach Claude Julien said. “But definitely disappointed with the outcome.

“I thought we played well enough to give ourselves a chance to win. This is one of those nights throughout the course of a season where you lose a hockey game only because the other team got one extra bounce going their way.

“Both goals were loose pucks right behind Timmy [Thomas]. We hit a post there at the end hoping to get back into the game. I definitely have to take the positives out of that game and work with that.’’

With less than two minutes remaining, the Devils busted a 1-1 tie and scored the winning goal with some lunchpail work in the danger areas. After Thomas (30 saves) stopped a shot by Jamie Langenbrunner, Zach Parise outmuscled Zdeno Chara behind the net to win the puck battle.

Parise slid it to Dainius Zubrus, who then dished it to Langenbrunner for another shot. Again, Thomas got a piece of Langenbrunner’s shot. But the puck dribbled through his pads, and Zubrus barreled into the crease and whacked the shot home at 18:34.

“It was bouncing all over the place,’’ said Thomas.

In the second, after the Devils killed off a Bryce Salvador tripping penalty, the Bruins scored their lone goal. Chara unloaded a slap shot from the right circle that shattered the blade of Johnny Oduya’s stick. The puck skittered to Marco Sturm, who knew that Patrice Bergeron and Michael Ryder were behind him in the slot. Sturm backhanded a pass to Bergeron, who buried his fourth goal at 2:32.

“He’s been our best forward. By far,’’ said Julien of Bergeron, who led the Boston forwards with 19:56 of ice time, landed four shots, and won 9 of 18 faceoffs. “He’s been our best and most consistent forward.

“When you talk about ups and downs, he’s been as good and consistent as you could ever ask. He’s had a great year. He’s playing extremely well. He’s very reliable. That goal he scored tonight was deserving because of his play.’’

The Bruins needed Bergeron’s goal to wipe out a 1-0 deficit. In the first period, with the game scoreless, Andrew Ference jumped up in the play to join the forecheck. At the same time, Thornton rotated back to take Ference’s spot.

Salvador gained control of the puck behind the New Jersey net and triggered a breakout by sending a pass out to the wall for Nicklas Bergfors. That’s when Thornton made the ill-advised decision to step up. He couldn’t get to the wall in time, which released Bergfors on an odd-man rush with David Clarkson against Mark Stuart.

Bergfors steamed down the left side and put a shot on goal that Thomas stopped. But Clarkson crashed the net and tapped home the rebound at 13:25 to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.

“Shouldn’t have pinched,’’ Thornton said. “I was backing [Ference] up. [Bergfors’s] back was turned.

“My thought process was that he wasn’t even looking at me, so I could get there. It took a bad bounce off the wall between both our legs. Neither of us expected it to be there.

“But then it’s a three-on-one the other way. I can’t go there. Bad bounce, too, but I can’t go there.’’

The errors became even more glaring because of the Bruins’ inability to put consistent threats on goaltender Yann Danis, who was seeing his first action of the season (Martin Brodeur had made all 10 previous starts).

Danis, playing behind a solid defense that didn’t allow many Grade A scoring chances, stopped 31 of 32 shots. Danis also got some help from his cage in the final minute, when Chara tipped a Dennis Wideman shot that skimmed off iron and stayed out of the net.

“If we work like that all year, we’re going to win more than we lose,’’ said Thornton. “I think everyone put in an unbelievable effort. But they’re a team that capitalizes on mistakes. Unfortunately I made a bad judgment, and it ended up in the back of the net.’’

With that, Thornton chucked his shirt toward the laundry basket in the middle of the Boston dressing room. And missed.

“That,’’ said Thornton, “just about sums it up.’’