“That was the third time he’d hit my butt end on that power play. I thought I’d give him a little love tap and let him know, ‘I know what you’re doing. I’m not going to let you do it forever.’ ’’
The Canucks have been grousing that Thomas has been straying from his net and initiating contact. On this play, Thomas proved them correct.
Thomas slashed Burrows. Burrows came back at Thomas. The goaltender responded with a shove, which prompted a net-front melee at 18:09. After the scrum cleared and Thomas’s face flashed on the TD Garden scoreboard, the crowd responded with one of its loudest ovations of the night.
They love their Battlefly Goalie.
“He’s had so many obstacles in front of him that he’s overcome that it makes him a battler,’’ said Bruins coach Claude Julien. “It makes him the perfect goaltender for our organization, because that’s what we are — we’re a blue-collar team that goes out, works hard, and earns every inch of the ice that you can get.’’
Thomas stopped all 38 shots he saw to backstop the Bruins to the 4-0 Game 4 win. He picked up his fourth career postseason shutout and third of this run.
Thomas was so sharp and his teammates so good that most of Vancouver’s chances were one-and-done. Thomas either sucked in pucks or watched his teammates clear the rebounds.
On offense, Rich Peverley, first in line to replace the concussed Nathan Horton, scored two goals — the second being the one that prompted Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault to swap Roberto Luongo for Cory Schneider in the Canucks net.
In the second period, Michael Ryder snapped a shot that deflected off Sami Salo’s stick and beat Luongo, and Brad Marchand took advantage of defensive-zone turnovers by the Canucks to score a goal that made it a 3-0 game.
The Bruins aren’t just back in the series, which is now tied at 2-2. They have grabbed the Stanley Cup Final by the throat.
