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Tim Thomas isn’t here to pump Roberto Luongo’s tires

Vancouver Canucks v Boston Bruins - Game Four

BOSTON, MA - JUNE 08: Tim Thomas #30 of the Boston Bruins walks to the ice from the locker room prior to the start of Game Four against the Vancouver Canucks in the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden on June 8, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Another day off between Stanley Cup finals games can mean only one thing: Memorable quotes pointed at opponents.

Today’s media session saw Boston’s Tim Thomas meet with the press and given what Roberto Luongo had to say about their difference in playing styles after Game 5 in Vancouver, inquiring minds wanted to know what Thomas thinks of all that. Thomas wasn’t willing to bite on that question today.

“I did hear about what he said, but I don’t really want to go into that. My focus is on what I can do to help my team win going into Game 6 here. It’s obviously a “must win” game and I think it’s important for our whole team to focus on that game and what we can do on the ice,” Thomas said.

Smart for Thomas to leave well enough alone there, but when asked about how Luongo felt he wasn’t getting enough credit sent his way for his play in the playoffs (he does have two shutouts in the finals after all) Thomas put his tongue firmly into his cheek to respond.

Q. Tim, Darren Pang always talks about the goalie union, that you guys all stick together. I know you don’t want to comment on what Roberto said, but he also said you didn’t say anything nice about him. Did you want to comment on that?

TIM THOMAS: I guess I didn’t realize it was my job to pump his tires (laughter). I guess I have to apologize for that.

I still think I’m the goaltender on the union side and I stick with all the other goalies. In being one and knowing what it takes to perform at this level and with this amount of pressure, I understand to a certain extent what every other goaltender is going through.

I guess that’s that.


I’d like to think that that will be that.

The war of words stuff in this series since the NHL has made sure to get tougher with the on-ice taunting has helped distract from what’s been a very solid series with contrasting styles and personalities all over the place. On Boston’s side you’ve got the likable stars like Patrice Bergeron and Tim Thomas. For Vancouver, Manny Malhotra’s remarkable comeback has taken a back seat to biting and taunting and verbal sparring. Even with all those fuzzy warm people and personalities, here we are still sifting through the fan outrage of players saying things that either they’re using to get a psychological edge or they’re having them warped out of proportion.

C’est la vie.

Out of all of this the point still remains that the teams will hit the ice Monday night and Vancouver has to figure their stuff out if they want to avoid a no holds barred, anything goes Game 7 in Vancouver on Wednesday. If the Canucks can’t figure out how to beat the Bruins in Boston, they’ll have just that. If Luongo doesn’t come up huge in Game 6, win or lose, we’ll still be talking about how he can’t quite yet win the big one and we’ll be left with potentially one more day filled with verbal snipes that serve no other purpose than to ignite the fans and distract the players.

It may not be the sort of Stanley Cup finals we hoped for from the get go, but if you cut through all the side show theatrics, this series is about all we could’ve hoped for.