Thomas posted his sixth shutout of the year, and by far his easiest, behind a B's team that throttled the Senators 6-0 in front of a sold-out TD Garden crowd.
On the same day that the veteran netminder was named to his third All-Star game, Thomas turned away 31 shots behind a strong Bruins defensive effort giving Boston their second win in as many nights.
"It's rare, with how tight this league is, to get a big lead like that, so it's very nice," said Thomas who was the beneficiary of a two-goal lead after one period, and a five-goal cushion after two. "It kind of feels like a night off mentally."
Thomas, who has easily been the Bruins most valuable player this season, gladly took a backseat to a dominant team effort, one that was even more impressive in the wake of an emotional 4-2 win in Pittsburgh on Monday.
"I thought we were great. We had quite a few blocked shots, and we just played a clean game. It was a good night for us," Thomas said. "We looked to have really good legs on a back-to-back, with the heavy schedule that we've had, and that's a good sign too. A lot of things went our way tonight."
The sixth shutout, which gives Thomas a new career high in a season that hasn't even reached the All-Star break, shrinks the goalie's already microscopic goals against average to 1.77. In a night in which the Bruins were good from top to bottom, Thomas continued to be as good as he's been all year.
"Tim was good, he made some big saves, and I think our players played well in front of him, but he still made some really good saves, and he was solid," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "He certainly gave us the confidence that we needed there, we knew he was going to be there to make those kind of saves.
Julien also admitted that, even though he always has confidence with Thomas between the pipes, it was nice for the coach to see his goalie get a considerable amount of help in front of him.
"It's probably nice for him and our goaltenders once and while to see our team have a bit of a cushion so they can just relax and not feel like every shot is a must," Julien said.
The shutout also continued Thomas' dominance of the Senators in his career. With the shutout on Tuesday, the sixth of his career against Ottawa, Thomas improved his career record against the Sens to 18-8-2, while lowering his goals against average to 1.93.
The dominance of the Senators isn't lost on Thomas, but the reason for that dominance is.
"It's just, luck," he said. "We just always seem to hit them a lot of the times when I'm fresh, and when the team is starting to gather a lot of momentum. That happens for certain matchups. … Ottawa seems to hit us just when we're starting to get hot, so that helps goaltender's outcomes, too."
It was a relatively easy night for a goalie who's done everything his team his asked for and more this season. The effort in front of him made life easier, not only for him, but for his head coach, too.
"It's good for the goaltender to get a bit of a cushion and some breathing room, and for a coach, it takes a bit of the stress off of every decision."
