The Bruins tough guy has had a hard time finding a willing dance partner this season. Despite issuing plenty of invitations, he had yet to get into a fight through six games this season. Other than a preseason bout with Alex Henry in an exhibition game against Montreal, he hadn't had a fight since March 5, a span of 38 games and more than seven months.
But the long wait ended just 1:54 into Thursday's clash with the Leafs, when Thornton renewed acquaintances with Toronto tough guy Colton Orr.
"I honestly don't think about it too much," Thornton said of the long stretch between bouts. "You're under the assumption that I love getting punched in the face. If the team needs it then I have no problem doing it and I thought it might've been able to get us going and turn things the other way. There were a few times I guess in the first six games where I felt the same way and couldn't find someone [to fight], but that happens through the course of the season. I wasn't hitting the panic button. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to go all 82 [games] without one."
Thornton's lack of fistic activity wasn't from a lack of willingness, at least not on his part. Instead, it could be that opponents are finally catching on to the kind of impact Thornton's bouts can have on the Bruins. Boston was 9-3-2 in the games when Thornton fought last season, and they're now 1-0-0 this season when he drops the gloves after a convincing 6-2 victory over the Leafs Thursday night.
"Obviously I try to put thought into that stuff," Thornton said. "I thought maybe I could get the guys going. I knew [Orr] hadn't been in the lineup for a while and he probably hasn't been in one for a while either so I figured it would probably be easy to find one.
"I mean it was thought about," Thornton added. "Obviously I knew -– well not knew –- but before the game I was thinking that I might have to do it. It was my first shift of the game I think we had a good start. I'm not sure if it was absolutely necessary but I thought it could've been the right time getting the guys going. Once again, they made me look smart. It's amazing how they do that for me."
Thornton's teammates certainly credited him for getting them going early with the bout, which ended when the linesmen stepped in after Thornton got Orr's jersey up over his head.
"He picked us up a lot," Bruins forward Nathan Horton said. "He's got a tough job, but he definitely picked us up. It was nice too, we pretty much played a complete game. There was a couple minutes there where we struggled a little bit, but all in all it was definitely one of our best games as a team."
Bruins coach Claude Julien also appreciated Thornton's effort, which he anticipated might be necessary with the lineup Toronto dressed for the game.
"You could see it was unavoidable when you looked at their roster and [saw Jay] Rosehill and Orr," Julien said. "Going into the game, we knew what was going to happen, and Thorty probably decided, 'Let's deal with this right now, and let's not waste any time.' He certainly did a great job for us again in regards to that, and we got the power-play goal to get us back in the game after a tough goal against, and we just kind of got going from there. A lot of guys came up and did their job, and Thorty was one of those."
It wasn't just the first fight of the year for Thornton. It was the first penalty of any kind that he had taken. It was actually the first penalty he has taken in the last 17 regular-season games dated back to last year. That's not the type of streak most enforcers would like, but Thornton takes pride in his disciplined play, and only wants to go to the box when he's taking an opponent with him.
He also only likes going there when he's earned the trip, as he did spend some time in the box on Tuesday serving penalties for several other teammates.
"If you're going over there, you might as well be involved, right?" Thornton said. "I try to take pride in not taking penalties period. I know there's talk about not having a penalty in [17] games or whatever, but I don't take too many minors to begin with. I take a lot of pride in being out there and not tripping and hooking and holding guys."
Nope, if he's got to go to the sin bin, he'd just as soon get some punches in first. And that's just how the rest of the Bruins like it too.
