Tim Thomas did it all tonight. The Bruins took on the San Jose Sharks tonight without David Krejci and spent way too much time in their own zone tonight as the team had trouble adapting to the high-octane Sharks offense; the pairing of Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley on the same line is one potent punch. Only two players have scored more goals than Dany Heatley has against the Bruins since the '01-'02 season yet the Bruins found a way to prevail and scrapped together an incredibly hard-nosed effort to defeat one of the best teams in the league tonight by a score of 2-1 in a shootout.
Daniel Paille got the scoring started tonight when a puck deflected off of nearby defender's skate and into the goal off of a rebound attempt in the second period. After the B's went up 1-0, the Sharks' star Joe Thornton found the back of the net on a rebound of a slapshot from near the blue line. Thornton played tough throughout the whole night and it was clear that he wanted to prove to the Bruins that he hasn't forgotten about when they traded him (frankly, neither have we). The Bruins were outshot 16-10 in the second, a recent trend that needs to be bucked if the team wishes to continue to be successful.
With just under 15 minutes remaining, Paille made a dynamic spin move, banking the puck off of the boards and breaking away for an opportunity only to be stoned by the Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabakov who laid his entire body across the crease to take away the scoring opportunity.
At the start of the third period, the Bruins continued to get chances but failed to convert on them. Too often, the team is settling for low-percentage shots from near the blue line and need to work to get more opportunities closer to the net. The Sharks were peppering G Tim Thomas throughout the period and even got help from Dennis Wideman when he made a kick save (and a beauty) to save a goal less than four minutes into the period.
With the Sharks on a power play and just under seven minutes remaining in the final period, they were robbed on their 40th shot of a game when Tim Thomas used the post to wedge the puck in between the pipe and himself and keep it out of the net. The Bruins ran into a bit of bad luck also when the referees blew a blatant trip by Nabakov that would've yielded a B's power play. It was an incredible night for the Bruins' goalie as he was dominant between the pipes tonight. With just over a minute remaining in regulation, Ryan Clowe took a shot from the point and was robbed by a diving Thomas who batted it out of the air. Thomas played like the Vezina winner he was in 2009 which was exactly what the team needed tonight.
The puck moved between teams in overtime, up and down the ice with each side attempting to outplay the other for better ice position until Patrick Marleau broke away with thirty seconds remaining and was again stoned by Thomas! Neither regulation nor the overtime period was enough for either side tonight and the game went to a shootout.
Michael Ryder attempted the first shot of the shootout and was stoned by Nabakov on a diving stab. Joe Pavelski stutter-stepped Thomas on the Sharks first shot but went wide with the attempt. Miroslav Satan had Nabakov beat on the second attempt but couldn't get a handle on the stick and missed wide. Ryan Clowe attempted a backhanded wristshot on San Jose's second attempt but was met with a Tim Thomas glove save. Mark Recchi missed on his third attempt as did Dany Heatley and the shootout moved to extra frames. Zdeno Chara blasted one past Nabakov on the fourth attempt for the first and only score of the shootout leading the B's to a well-deserved team win at San Jose tonight. Thomas had 41 saves and a perfect shootout to cap off an unbelievable night.
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