BOSTON — In the end, the only way the Capitals were going to score on Tim Thomas was if they got a little help.
It was just a surprise that help came from Thomas himself.
The Bruins netminder missed out on a chance at a shutout in Thursday's home opener when his own turnover led to Washington's lone goal, but Thomas was just fine with settling for the 4-1 win.
"I saw [Blake] Wheeler up on the wing there coming back and Wheels deserves to get a goal here pretty soon," said Thomas. "I wanted to get him the puck and I got hungry for an assist. I just got greedy and I should have kept it simple."
Wheeler picked up his second assist of the year later in the game, but his goal would have to wait. Instead, Thomas helped Capitals forward Jason Chimera tally his second of the season when Thomas' ill-advised pass up the middle of the ice went right to Chimera's stick, and Chimera quickly flipped it into the open net midway through the third period.
"[Thomas] was outstanding tonight, and it's unfortunate he lost the shutout bid," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "But at least he can blame himself and no one else, right? But what a great job he did. It's been fun and he's been playing well."
Thomas could take a little solace in the fact that he probably owed Chimera after their run-in at the end of last year, when Thomas went a little overboard in reacting to Chimera's crashing his crease in the regular-season finale. Thomas took a roughing double minor for throwing a few shots at Chimera that night, so it's only fair that Chimera got to throw a shot past Thomas in this one.
"I realize it was a bad play, a mistake," said Thomas. "I guess I owe Jason Chimera that from last year when I punched him in the last game of the year. Now we're even."
Thomas could joke about it after the game, but when Chimera's goal cut the Bruins' lead to 3-1 with 10:33 left to play in the third, it was anything but a laughing matter. That was why Thomas wasn't worried about losing the shutout; he was concerned with losing the game after his gaffe.
"No, it was more important to finish off the game and get the win," said Thomas. "Not to let that be something that got into my head and all of the sudden I let in another goal and it's 3-2. I really had to bear down and make sure that I kept my composure. I'm glad I'm 36 in this case because I've had these situations before."
