Tim Thomas was the main reason why the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011.
The veteran goaltender dominated the playoffs with a .940 save percentage and a 1.98 goals against average, which helped earn him the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP.
It turns out he helped inspire the Bruins off the ice, too.
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Former Bruins forward Milan Lucic spent five seasons as Thomas' teammate in Boston, including the 2011 title run. Lucic told a great story on Barstool Sports' "Spittin' Chiclets" podcast about a classic one-liner that Thomas would say during the 2011 playoffs.
"What was really funny was every time we had a lead or we were tied going into the third period, one of the superstitious things that was said was Tim Thomas always said, 'I guarantee if we win this period we’ll win this game,'" Lucic said. "And we all would kind of cheer. It was something silly that we would say and the guys would be like, ‘yeah, (expletive) right, Timmy! Let’s go!’ That was Timmy’s one-liner that he would always say on that playoff run. I remember when he said it in that second intermission, going out for the third period in Game 7 against Vancouver, and he pipes up and he said it, 'I guarantee if we win this period we're gonna win the game.' And all the boys were like, '(expletive) right, Timmy, let's go win this period.' Everyone was jacked up.
"The anticipation of him saying that, especially having a 3-0 lead, to go win the cup. I think he might have even said, ‘I guarantee if we win this period we’ll win the Stanley Cup.’ I think that’s exactly how he said it. When he said that everyone was so fired up to go out there to play the last 20 minutes and it all obviously was a dream come true after that."
Boston Bruins
Whatever works, right?
Thomas was brilliant in that Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. He shut out the Vancouver Canucks with 37 saves on 37 shots in Boston's 4-0 championship-clinching victory.