Running Stanley Cup Playoff Thread

I can see where the Bruins were looking to move Thomas...Rask is their future and he's a very good goaltender. Plus, he is 6-3 and it seems teams are looking to go to the big goalies. Rask impressed me when he saw action this season (think he shut out the Flyers), but Thomas has been the best goalie in the NHL this season.

If Thomas can keep up the level of play we saw in the final 58 minutes of last night's game the Bruins will be very difficult to beat.

 

Niemi needs to get some of that same mojo. I've kept waiting for him to "stand on his head" to steal a game for the Sharks; still waiting. He's been very good at times but still, not a signature performance as yet.

 

The funny thing is, if he gets into one of his unconscious streaks where the puck looks like a frisbee to him (we have all seen him on one of these streaks...I always call them his "end of the world" streaks) the Sharks could not only steal a game...they could steal the series. Look at the playoffs last year. His numbers weren't that great but there were times when you KNEW nothing was getting past him. I would love to see it again because nothing would make me happier than to see Vancouver get bounced. I hate their cocky fans. Imagine that...thinking hockey fans are obnoxious.

 

It's pretty easy to see why the Bruins were trying to move Thomas last year.

He's 37 years old, and Rask was pretty good in the postseason last year. Thomas is, positionally, a very fundamentally unsound goaltender, but he's a lot like hitting off Nolan Ryan. Because he's so all over the place, he's almost impossible to get a book on for shooters. Rask is technically sound, huge ... he's going to potentially be a franchise goaltender for years to come ... the Frank Brimsek to take over for Tiny Thompson. Thomas was also nursing a hip injury last year -- the type that can screw with goaltenders.

That, and the Bruins desperately needed to free up some $$ to get some firepower up front.

If this is TT's last hurrah, it's a pretty amazing one. He's been spot-on this entire season, and postseason. Last night, he flat-out stole the game.

 

You cheer for a Boston sports team and you want to call someone else's fan base cocky and obnoxious?

I pretty much agree with you but I think there is very little difference between any fans, in any sport.

 

Tim Thomas is the last of a dying breed of what I call "road hockey goalies' and perhaps the greatest of the last twenty years was Cujo. But Thomas has changed his style ever so slightly from last year and seems to be a little more efficient in his movements

The new goalies (since the post Roy era) have been coached to within an inch of their lives going back to their Peewee days. Guys like Thomas make saves and guys like Rask let the puck hit them .
I'd love to see a Boston/Canucks Final.

 

As a Bruins fan and former Vancouverite I'm screwed. Want to root for Boston but risk the wrath of my entire (very large) family.

 

Canucks score with fourteen seconds left to go in reg to force game five into OT.
Great hockey game. Lots of injured guys out there.

 

Versus replay showed icing call that led to the game-tying goal was incorrect - puck hit Sedin on the way up the ice.

But in a game reffed by imperfect humans, screw up happens. Mentally strong teams get out of it, and San Jose has proven over and over again it falls short in that category.

 

Do love double-OT playoff hockey.

 

Sharks choke...again. I think Canucks will win this one.

 

THAT was an interesting goal...