Welcome to 201k.com - A Commonwealth Perspective.

Bruins end trip with last-minute victory

By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Thanks to some near-flawless netminding from Tim Thomas, the Bruins capped their road trip with a 2-1 win over San Jose last night before a sellout crowd of 17,496 at the HP Pavilion.

During the second period, the Bruins didn't manage a single shot on Nabokov, failing to penetrate the Sharks' stand-up defense.

But because of a first-period Boston goal and some stellar netminding from Thomas (13 saves in the second period, 26 overall), the Bruins still held a 1-0 advantage after 40 minutes despite their lack of production in the middle frame.

The Sharks applied some heavy pressure in the second period, especially during their third power play...[b]ut Thomas stood tall, bailing out his penalty-killers whenever the Sharks shook their checks.

Thomas got some help from his net later in the second period. After the Sharks killed off a penalty to defenseman Craig Rivet, captain Patrick Marleau took off down the right wing. Marleau pulled a pass between his legs to teammate Michalek, and the San Jose forward rang a wrist shot off the left post.

Thomas recovered just in time to stuff forward Steve Bernier's rebound attempt at 8:57. Thomas, who entered last night having allowed only three goals in his two previous starts, continued his solid play, making a blocker stop when defenseman Matt Carle joined the rush for a good scoring chance in the slot.

Late in the period, Thomas got his glove on a close-range attempt by Michalek.

Explain to us again why Tim Thomas has to earn his spot on this roster year after year? He's consistently been one of the few reasons to watch the Bruins since taking over the starting slot from Andrew Raycroft.

Bruins management is lucky he's not easily offended; plenty of goalies who don't mean nearly as much to their teams as Thomas does to his would be mightily offended to have to prove themselves worthy at training camp every season. But Tim Thomas shows up, never utters a discouraging word, then goes and and back-stops the B's -- often brilliantly -- game after game.

Is it because the hockey powers-that-be just can't get their heads around his "unorthodox" style? That he doesn't have the flawless butterfly form that worked so well (not) for Hannu Toivonen?

Well here's a clue for management that hockey fans in Boston -- most of whom adore Thomas -- already figured out, once again proving themselves possessed of sharper hockey acumen than the boys in charge: Thomas keeps the puck out of the net. That's why we love him. And that's why the team plays better in front of him: they trust him.

Really, it amazes us that rather than insult him every year with talk of "improving the goalie situation" by adding this one or that one, only to inevitably find themselves turning to him again and again, that the Bruins don't fall down on their knees and thank their lucky stars that Tim Thomas turned out to be who he is after they chased Raycroft out of town.