Tim Thomas Has Ended Vezina Debate with Recent Surge, Will Be the Key to Long Postseason Run for Bruins

For a few weeks, Tim Thomas appeared human again.

At the start of March, the Bruins netminder was no longer chasing history and looking to rewrite the league's modern goaltending records. Instead, he was getting chased from one game and looking to regain the form that had made the Vezina Trophy look like a lock for most of the season.

Thomas can call off the search party. He's found his game again, and can now start worrying about finding space on his mantel for another Vezina.

Thomas is more worried about another piece of hardware, one that no Bruin has held since 1972. And having Thomas back playing like his otherworldly self from earlier this season will be a key to that quest.

And Thomas has certainly gotten back to that level after a few shaky starts. After struggling through a four-start stretch that saw him go 0-2-2 with 14 goals allowed, Thomas has gone 4-0-0 with two shutouts and just two goals allowed in his last four starts. It's a run reminiscent of his spectacular start to the season when he allowed just three goals in his first six games with three shutouts.

"It's scary sometimes," Thomas said after Tuesday's 3-0 shutout of the reigning Cup champion Blackhawks. "I'm in one of those good places and now the challenge is to keep it."

Thomas never lost the league lead in goals-against average, but this recent surge has dropped it back under 2.00 at 1.96, which would be the lowest mark in the NHL since the owners' lockout and ensuing rule changes to open up the game and increase scoring when the league returned in 2005. Thomas has also pushed his league-leading save percentage now back up to .940, which would break Dominik Hasek's NHL record of .937 set back in 1998-99 if Thomas can maintain it through the final six games of the season.

The numbers are staggering, but no longer have the power to surprise Thomas' teammates.

"Well it's not surprising," forward Patrice Bergeron said. "It's just Timmy being himself. He's been huge for us and giving us a chance to win, making some huge saves when we need it and it's been like that all year."

For the Bruins, the only surprise was that anyone could question Thomas even amid his brief slump earlier this year.

"You know it's amazing, he's been great for us all year and the minute he only becomes good, everybody talks about him being in a slump," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "I don't think he's ever been bad for us this year. He's been good sometimes, but he's been great most of the time."

Julien has helped Thomas maintain that level of play by closely monitoring the netminder's workload of late. Backup Tuukka Rask has played more the last couple months, which has helped him finally find a rhythm and also allowed Thomas to recharge the batteries a bit.

"Giving him a little bit of rest and he's kind of fine-tuned himself again, and after a little bit of rest he's back to where he's been most of the year," Julien said. "So that was our plan and that was part of it and we needed Tuukka to step up and help us out and he's done that. So I'm pretty happy with our goaltending."

Thomas, meanwhile, is content to let Julien figure out how to best balance the workload and just concentrate on stopping pucks as best as he can when he does get the call.

"I'm kind of letting them manage it," Thomas said. "And I'm just playing when I'm told to play, and just kind of approaching it day by day like that. So, I guess I'll think of the overall plan, how it went, after the year's over. I don't want to spend the energy to think about it now. I'd rather pass that responsibility on and leave my energy to keep doing what I do."

Thomas denied ever feeling too off his game even during his struggles earlier this month, but did admit his confidence is soaring again with this recent run of success.

"I didn't feel that bad during that stretch," Thomas said. "I mean, there were shots that were hitting off of people that were going wide and going in. But having said that I do feel good right now, but I didn't feel all that bad before. It's a fine line for a goalie."

Thomas has made a career out of proving the doubters wrong. In that way, his brief slump may have been the best thing to happen to him and the Bruins. His losing streak opened the door to speculation that the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist (league-leading 11 shutouts), Nashville's Pekka Rinne (second in league with 2.10 GAA and .929 save percentage) or even Montreal's Carey Price (35-27-6, 2.38 GAA, .922 save percentage) could wrest the Vezina away from Thomas.

Thomas slammed the door shut on that speculation over these last four starts, which came against some top-flight competition. In that span, he shut down one of the hottest teams in the league in the Devils, blanked the Bruins' closest pursuer in the Northeast Division in the Canadiens, then beat both of last year's Cup finalists in the Eastern Conference-leading Flyers and the Blackhawks.

Thomas, who is now 33-10-8 with a career-high nine shutouts, shouldn't have to sweat out the Vezina voting any longer. Just like the Bruins seldom have to worry about anything when Thomas is in the cage behind them.

"It just gives us confidence," Bergeron said. "For us, yeah sometimes we have a breakdown, but we know that he's there for us. So it's huge for our confidence like that."

And it's given the Bruins confidence that with Thomas leading the way, this could finally be the year they make a long run deep into the playoffs.

Has Tim Thomas locked up the Vezina Trophy for this season, and can he carry on this success into the playoffs for a deep postseason run? Share your thoughts below.