Former Lightning Center Describes ‘War’ Against Bruins In Epic Game Seven

Veteran center Nate Thompson joined the “Empty Netters” podcast on Tuesday and dropped the news that he was retiring after playing 15 years in the NHL.

“I’m not playing anymore,” Thompson said on the podcast. “I am retiring.”

The news took brothers and hosts Dan and Chris Powers by surprise, but they didn’t miss a beat and continued chatting with Thompson about his career, including the five years he spent as a member of the Tampa Bay Lighting from 2009-2014 and the battle with the Bruins in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals.

“We were good that year,” Thompson recalled. “That year we were down 3-1 to Pittsburgh in the first round and came back to beat them in seven. Then we rolled through Washington and won the first game against Boston so we had won eight straight games (in the playoffs).”

In 2011 the Bruins and Lightning were pretty evenly matched, but Boston had the edge when it came to physical play — something Thompson would never forget.

“I will say that Game 7 was probably one of the hardest playoff games that I have ever played,” Thompson said. “It was like a war. You had to fight for every inch on the ice. Every time you could touch the puch you were getting hit.”

Thompson recalled the pass from Bruins center David Krejci to Nathan Horton right around the 14-minute mark of the third period that led the 1-0 Boston lead.

“I just remember it being an absolute war.”

Retired NHL center Nate Thompson

“It was a sick pass by Krejci over to Horton,” Thompson remembered. “It was almost like a harmless come through (the ice) and then they were 2-on-1. And I played with Krejci in the minors, he’s going to make that pass every time.”

Thompson described how both teams couldn’t get control of the series and it was back-and-forth between the two clubs.

“They were the big, bad Bruins,” Thompson said. “They had skill but they had the meat and potatoes and we had a little bit of that, but not as much. It was a war. That was fun hockey.”

With war usually comes battle scars and Thompson was not immune. He broke his foot in Game 2 of the series by blocking a Zdeno Chara shot.

Thompson said the trainers would have to pick him up and drive him to the rink via golf cart and he would spend two hours before each game getting treatment so he could play in the game.

“The series kinda sucked for me because I remember I couldn’t skate,” Thompson explained. “I shattered my foot in that series. I had a hairline fracture across the top of my foot so it wouldn’t heal right. … I still felt it in August before training camp.”

Thompson said he’s never watched the game, but now that his career is over, he would like to.

“I just remember it being an absolute war,” he said. “It was a battle of a series. It was fun though.”