04/16/24
May 24, 2011
SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
That was one sick dave. Initially, it looked like the shooter got handcuffed and didn't really get the shot off of. The replay was an immediate HOLY MOTHER***************** moment though. And it was an entertaining game in general.
posted by jmd82 at 11:18 AM on May 24, 2011
Not surprised the Bruins are up in the series, I am surprised how badly they've been outplayed (with the exception of Thomas, of course). Going into the series my thought was the Bruins would overwealm the Lightning with toughness, especially along the boards, but it just hasn't played out that way.
Scary, they have by far the best goaltending remaining in the playoffs and a decent defense. Someone needs to spike the forwards' Gatorade with Red Bull.
posted by cixelsyd at 12:32 PM on May 24, 2011
The B's definitely played games 2 + 3 that way. But then they have the horrible tendency to do stupid things (game 1) and shutdown/sleepwalk/coast once they have a lead (games 2 + 4). Overall, the B's are the better team - more depth, better netminding - should pull it out on Wednesday.
Can they beat Vancouver? Don't know as I haven't watched much of that series or followed the West as closely all season.
posted by kokaku at 01:41 PM on May 24, 2011
Bruins have had some great goaltending in their history, from Tiny Thompson to Frankie Brimsek to Gerry Cheevers, but never has there been one like Tim Thomas. First and foremost, he is an athlete who plays in goal, and second, but nearly as impportant, he has played long enough that he is very much aware of all the possibilities for an offense and he is able to move when necessary. My unproven theory is that the best goaltenders are either young ones with incredible reflexes or old ones with lots of experience. Tim Thomas is one of the latter.
Disclaimer: I am not quite old enough to have seen either Tiny Thompson or Frankie Brimsek play, but I did see Cheevers many times. There were some games when one would swear he was the luckiest SOB on earth, but nothing like Thomas has been.
posted by Howard_T at 04:00 PM on May 24, 2011
That said, Howard_T, however mighty he may be at moving around to stop pucks, he's still scary when he gets behind the net to start pucks.
posted by kokaku at 04:54 PM on May 24, 2011
Tim Thomas deserves the Vezina for this save alone.
The game was 2-1 Boston and TB had been outplaying Boston all night. Score there and there's a good chance they followup with another (because that's the way the series has been), taking home ice and the opportunity to close out at home. Thomas makes the save, Boston hangs on to win and now they have two chances to get to the finals.