Bruins save Thomas' flub with late comeback for Winter Classic

BOSTON -- The hockey gods came through in the beginning.

Then the Boston Bruins came through at the end. And no one was more relieved by everything that transpired than their goalie Tim Thomas.

Under ideal conditions for outdoor hockey -- 39 degrees at game time under slightly overcast skies -- it turned out to be the kind of day that will likely be remembered forever by the feisty veteran netminder. Thomas realized a longstanding goal by getting named to Team USA's Olympic roster and then had his teammates bail him out with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory in overtime against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park.

"Between winning and the way we won and being named at your home crowd, at Fenway Park, I mean you add those things together, this is a story that will be told for the rest of my life," Thomas said.

Still there was some irony in the fact that Thomas needed to be saved from himself, because the late-blooming veteran whose NHL career did not begin in earnest until he was 31 actually had a great afternoon for the surging Bruins. Thomas made several clutch saves among the 24 shots he turned aside in the third and best of what has now become a signature annual event for the league, most notably robbing Claude Giroux twice from in close and Daniel Briere on a breakaway in regulation before stoning the Flyers in overtime.

But until Mark Recchi scored a power-play goal to force the extra session with less than three minutes remaining in the third period, Thomas seemed destined to be wearing the goat horns for putting his team in a hole and nearly costing them two points through a mental mistake that resulted in the Flyers first and only goal.

The teams had got down to business quickly after a series of spectacular pregame ceremonies that included legends Bobby Orr and Bobby Clarke taking the traditional opening faceoff, a military flyover and the National Anthem sung by James Taylor.

With fears of inclement weather long gone by the time the puck dropped, the Bruins and the much-improved Flyers were able to play the kind of physical and tight-checking game one might expect from two playoff contenders battling for points in midseason.

Tim Thomas realizes his dream of playing for Team USA after making the Olympic roster. (Getty Images)

"I think for everybody it settled in a little bit after the game started to take shape, but there wasn't a lot going on at the beginning," said Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, whose team came in riding a four-game winning streak. "Everybody wanted to play safe hockey and make sure they didn't have any gaps defensively."

That translated into several heavy hits in the early going and when Philadelphia's Daniel Carcillo floored Boston's Shawn Thornton with a right-handed haymaker in a fight, something not seen in the first two incarnations of these outdoor spectacles.

• Olympic roster: Team USA

But despite the fast ice conditions, pucks were bouncing around and there was no scoring until Thomas felt compelled to go after Flyers forward Scott Hartnell in front of the net.

The momentary lapse of reason created enough of an opening for Philadelphia defenseman Danny Svyret to slide the puck through from the point for his first career goal. "At that point I was very grateful to tie the game because the [opening] goal was basically because I lost my cool," Thomas said about taking himself out of position.

"Before the goal I made a save and [Hartnell] basically ran me over. That made me mad when he came that close and I retaliated, but I just happened to be retaliating at the same time someone else was shooting."

The end result though made it easier for Bruins coach Claude Julien to overlook the incident.

"We can criticize or harp on Timmy for that, but at the same time that's what has made him a great goaltender, his character and the way he battles," Julien said. "But because of that character, he'll make 10 times more saves."

On this day however, that didn't look like it would be enough because at the other end, Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton, the journeyman who has sparked Philadelphia's turnaround since being claimed on waivers three weeks ago, was playing just as well.

Leighton, who had won all four of his decisions and carried a 96-minute shutout streak into the game, wasn't tested much early, but had to come up with some big saves in the third period as the Bruins found their legs and started to get the crowd of 38,112 back into the game. And it took a power play late in the third period to keep the Bruins alive before Marco Sturm won it in overtime by converting a pass from Patrice Bergeron.

"I saw two guys go at [Bergeron] so I just tried to go to the net and he made a nice play to get me the puck," Sturm said. "It took us a long time to get in going, but you know, Timmy held us in the game."