So when a slow-moving, long-range shot came off the stick of fourth-line forward Kris Newbury, Thomas, instead of knocking it away with his stick, tried to cover the puck to get a whistle. But it dribbled away from the Bruins goalie and over the line at 12:24 of the second period, good for Newbury's first career goal, making it a 3-1 lead for Toronto.
The legless Bruins never recovered, dropping a 5-1 dud before 19,359 at the Air Canada Centre, capping their 1-2-1 road trip with the worst effort of the four games.
"I hope we don't see that too often," said coach Dave Lewis. "We had no energy, no legs. No excuses. Toronto outworked us in all areas -- attacking zone, neutral zone, defensive zone. We couldn't get to the net. Their power play was effective. They got a couple fortunate goals, but they probably didn't have a big impact. We just looked like we were skating in sand."
All the factors seemed tilted in the Bruins' favor.
They had beaten the Leafs four straight times. The Leafs were missing Michael Peca, Nik Antropov, Alexei Ponikarovsky, and Kyle Wellwood, four of their regular forwards. Toronto was coming off a devastating 3-2 overtime loss to the Senators in which it blew a late lead.
But the Bruins, slogging through the last leg of the trip, never made the game into anything resembling competition. On a night when Thomas (30 saves) didn't have his best stuff, his teammates never came close to bailing him out.
"Look at what he's given us," said Andrew Alberts. "He made some big saves in the first five minutes. You can't fault Timmy for his effort. Ever."
Things started well for the Bruins. They grabbed a 1-0 lead when Chara, from his position in the slot (Marc Savard manned the defenseman's usual spot at the point), banged in the rebound of a Marco Sturm shot for a five-on-three power-play goal.
But the Bruins gave the Leafs their own extended power play when Savard was sent off for a high-sticking double minor. Captain Mats Sundin tied the score at 8:09. Just over four minutes later, ex-Bruin Hal Gill, with forward Chad Kilger setting a screen in front of Thomas, flipped the puck into the net at 12:19, giving the Leafs a 2-1 lead.
