So instead of the start, he got the win.
"It's not easy for Auldie coming in the net in the third period," said Zdeno Chara. "He was playing unbelievable. And in the shootout, he stopped all three shooters. All the guys really contributed to the win tonight."
For the first 40 minutes, a win didn't appear to be in the Boston crosshairs. The Bruins put heavy pressure on Tomas Vokoun, firing 30 shots on the Florida goalie through two periods that resulted in only a pair of goals.
But at the other end, seemingly every Bruins mistake turned into a Florida goal. In the first period, Dennis Wideman coughed up the puck in the defensive zone to allow the Panthers to regain control. Defenseman Bryan Allen floated a shot from the point that caromed off the skate of teammate Jay Bouwmeester, then ticked off Wideman's left skate to beat Thomas for the first goal.
In the second period, a strong belt along the end wall by forward Gregory Campbell forced Shane Hnidy to turn the puck over deep in the Boston zone. Seconds later, Montador beat Thomas with a shot from the slot.
The defensive mistakes, however, were compounded by the struggles of Thomas. In 40 minutes, Thomas gave up four goals on 12 shots, including a strike in the final second of the middle frame that gave Florida a 4-2 advantage.
"No doubt Timmy wasn't at his best tonight," said coach Claude Julien, whose team landed 48 shots to 27 for Florida.
In the second period, forward Rostislav Olesz gave Florida a 3-1 lead. Olesz, skating down the left wing, faked a wrister and threw off Thomas's timing. Olesz curled around the net and tucked the puck under the glove of the out-of-position Thomas at 12:11.
Wideman scored a power-play goal at 16:13 of the second period to make it 3-2. But Kamil Kreps, who kicked off an odd-man rush, put a wrister on goal that trickled past Thomas at 19:59, signaling the end to the netminder's night.
It was up to Thomas's teammates to respond.
"We were unhappy," said Marco Sturm. "But we knew they had lost a lot of two-goal leads. We didn't stop. We kept rolling."
