There’s an alter ego that emerges from Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas when provoked.

We’ve seen it occasionally when he’s taken a swipe or a shove at an opponent he thinks is taking too many liberties while driving to the Boston net. Leave it to New York Rangers überpest Sean Avery to cause Thomas to unleash that second personality — let’s call him “Tank” — 10 fold and bring on a reaction like none we’ve ever seen before.

Thomas, mild-mannered 90 percent of the time, explained his decision to go after Avery after the Bruins’ 1-0 at TD Banknorth Garden.

“It’s an unwritten rule that basically nothing happens during a TV timeout, you know what I mean?” said Thomas, who now has five shutouts on the season. “I’m stretching there and Avery comes by,  and I get hit in the head with a stick. You look up, you see who it is and you’re like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ So it was just reflex.

“I mean, the battling during the game and stuff, I have no problem with that. I actually like the way he plays around the net; he’s tenacious, he gets in right around the crease, but he’s not actually doing anything illegal. I have no problem with that, but there’s lines that you can cross, and he seems to have a hard time figuring out what those lines are.” … Continue reading @ TheBruinsBlog.net

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