Milan Lucic said the Boston Bruins weren’t fazed going into Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals against Vancouver.
In fact, it was the calmest they’d been of any of their games with the Canucks even though everything was on the line.
And the B’s confidence was flowing at the end of the second period, as they led by three goals with just 20 minutes between them and Lord Stanley.
But before Boston could win the Cup, an important tradition had to take place during the last intermission. The Bruins netminder had to get his team pumped up to earn the victory.
Current Calgary Flame Milan Lucic revealed how Tim Thomas often would get the Bruins motivated during that magical playoff run Thursday on the Barstool Sports podcast “Spittin’ Chiclets.”
Here’s what he had to say:
What was really funny was every time we had a lead or were tied going into the third period, one of the superstitious things that was said was Tim Thomas always said, “I guarantee if we win this period we’ll win this game.” And we all kind of would cheer. It was just something silly that we would say and the guys would be like, ‘yeah, (expletive) rights, Timmy! Let’s go!’ And that was Timmy’s one-liner that he would always say on that playoff run, and I remember when he said it in that second intermission, going out for the third period in Game 7 against Vancouver, and he pipes up and he said it.
The anticipation of him saying that, especially having a three goal lead, to go win the cup. I think he might have even said, ‘if we win this period we’ll win the Stanley Cup.’ I think that’s exactly how he said it. When he said that everyone was so fired up to go out there to play the last 20 minutes and it all obviously was a dream come true after that.
After the break, the Bruins took the ice and earned more confidence thanks to a goal from Brad Marchand. The rest is history, as the Bruins were able to hoist the Stanley Cup on the ice at TD Garden a short while later.
Looks like Thomas was on to something.
