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Following Tuesday night's thrilling 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning capped by Mark Recchi's game-winning goal with just under 20 seconds left in the period, it wasn't the 42-year-old veteran winger complaining of fatigue--but rather the Bruins' savior, Tim Thomas.
Stopping 31 of 34 against a high-flying Tampa squad, Thomas was anything-but-fresh off this December run that's seen him start 11 of 13 games in the month for the B's, and sixth start in the past 12 days, the 36-year-old's admittance of feeling the effects of a grueling NHL-schedule (while still posting otherworldly numbers) hinted towards the idea that it'd in fact be Tuukka Rask in net for the B's on Thursday night against the Thrashers.
But when the Bruins' knight in shining white pads led the squad onto the ice for yet another start, it was the 23-year-old Rask sitting on the bench once again.
Extending Rask's bench-riding streak to 15 days now, the fatigue on the weary-boned Thomas was made clear when Tobias Enstrom scored his sixth goal of the season on a five-hole shot just over three minutes into the game.
Answering back with time winding down in the period, Patrice Bergeron provided the winded Thomas with a goal of support by scoring on an unassisted backhander to knot things up after 20.
Jumping out to their first (and only) lead of the night, it was Blake Wheeler who took a David Krejci pass and crept into the Atlanta zone before potting ninth goal of the season through Ondrej Pavelec.
However, when the Bruins found themselves on the penalty-kill once again, on the first of what would become three Atlanta power-plays in the second period (five in the game in total) it was the undersized Enstrom who struck again.
Firing off a shot from the point that went through Thomas' five-hole thanks largely to an uncontested complete screen from Atlanta's Andrew Ladd, the Thrashers would tie this game up.
And as Boston fumbled on two power-plays of their own in the third period, this one was heading to overtime. And when a five-minute overtime wasn't enough to settle this game in front of a rowdy Thrashers crowd, it was time for the shootout.
Heading into the shootout with a 0-7 record, Pavelec's work was mere child's play as he only needed to (and did) stop Tyler Seguin and Wheeler while Atlanta call-up Tim Stapletone and Bryan Little each banged home goals as the Thrashers took this by the final score of 3-2 in the shootout.
But as the B's saw great goaltending contributions from #30, who made 30 saves in the losing effort, it's clear--This guy needs a breather.
ATLANTA PACKS HOUSE FOR 17,000+
Hey, pat yourself on the back, Thrashers fans. After all, this was the first game I've watched involving your team on home-ice where the empty seats didn't outnumber the people.
Jamming an announced crowd of 17,624 into the Philips Arena, more than sell-out capacity at Boston's TD Garden, it was truly a nice sight to see as the fans seem to be beginning to turn out for what's become an incredibly exciting Atlanta club led by a core of youthful players.
And as mentioned on the NESN telecast, any first-time hockey-goer was sure to come back for another tilt involving their hometown club after that display of exciting back-and-forth up-and-down hockey.
Unless you're from Hamilton, Quebec City, or Hamilton, you just gotta love when an expansion team begins to thrive.
As stated per the Bruins' official Twitter profile early this morning, B's fourth-liner Greg Campbell opted out of the teams practice with what appeared to be a flu.
With 'under the weather' coming down as the exact prognosis for you WebMD Symptom-Checker lovers (I had a headache once--they said it was either a cold or a stroke), the 27-year-old Campbell would wind up sitting this one out as the Bruins penalty-kill finished the night a woeful 3-for-5, allowing two softies from the point.
Behind just Patrice Bergeron and the now-AHL-living Jordan Caron in terms of averaged shorthanded time-on-ice, Campbell's 1:50 averaged time on the penalty-kill was undoubtedly missed in this one--as were his 50 hits and 27 blocked shots in 35 games this season.
BY THE NUMBERS
16:16 - Minutes of time-on-ice for slumping winger Nathan Horton in the contest just one day after being dragged through the mud by Claude Julien--who remarked that Horton's recent struggles are caused by a lack of confidence. Horton finished the night with zero points and just one shot-on-goal.
6: Games without a point now for Milan Lucic. Still the Bruins' leading goal-scorer, the 22-year-old Lucic has hit a bit of a skid, posting a minus-3 with 26 penalty-minutes during this slide.
18: Saves made by Ondrej Pavelec in the third period--good enough to push this game to overtime.
1: NHL game now under the belt of Atlanta's Patrice Cormier. An underlying component of the deal that sent Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey, Cormier's not exactly known for his five points in 11 AHL games this season, but rather this vicious elbow he laid on Mikael Tam in the QMJHL last season.
Still hard to watch without cringing.
TY'S TAKE
Yeah, I know I've said it a thousand times by now--But just why, oh why, was Tuukka Rask on the bench for this contest?
Held off the ice for over two weeks now, the 23-year-old sophomore performed at a respectable level in his last outing despite taking home the loss--stopping 32 of 35 with absolutely no help from his blue-line--the Finnish goaltender had every reason to be in net for this contest.
Given Thomas' human-like outing on Tuesday, along with the veteran playing two games in two nights, the opportunity for a Rask start was staring the B's right in the face but was axed as 'riding the hot goaltender' prevailed yet again.
Just where and when does the ride end? When Thomas breaks down in March?
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Bruins head to Buffalo for a New Year's Day battle with the Sabres. Unfortunately going to play indoors, the B's will look to avenge their loss to Buffalo two weeks ago.
But as for as what's on the blogging horizon, expect the '10 Best Bruins Games of 2010' to hit the HockeyBuzz homepage early morning January 1st.
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