By all accounts Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas is a great guy. That's all well and good but professional sports are a cold business and Thomas is not getting the job done this season.
Boston is lucky though because in rookie goaltender Tuukka Rask, they have the present and future of the franchise.
Rask (18-10-4, NHL-best 2.02 GAA) was the centerpiece of the B's (33-27-12) 4-0 win last night at Philips Arena in Atlanta as he recorded his fourth shutout of the season.
Since Boston came in only one point ahead of the Thrashers (32-30-11) for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference (and the right to be pummeled by the Caps), you could say without hyperbole that last night was one of the most meaningful wins of the season.
It was downright refreshing to see the B's show up for once when it counted as David Krejci (from Michael Ryder and Dennis Seidenberg) put Boston ahead 1-0 in the first period with his 15th goal.
A couple minutes after the first goal, Shawn Thornton threw down with Thrashers goon Eric Boulton. It seems like the Bruins have been fighting more lately which is never a bad thing.
Milan Lucic (his 8th) gave the B's a 2-0 lead in the second period with a one-timer from Krejci. Then Miroslav Satan (his 6th) scored the dagger of the game with four seconds left in the second period when he tipped Zdeno Chara's blast from the point.
When Steve Begin (his 4th) scored off a juicy rebound from Atlanta goalie Johan Hedberg early in the third period the rout was on.
Boston will look to keep the momentum going as the Tampa Bay Lightning come to the TD Garden tomorrow night for another must-win by the Black and Gold.
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