(SportsNetwork. Kevin Faulk Super Bowl Womens Jersey .com) - Tuukka Rask had a first-hand look at how important Tim Thomas was to the Boston Bruins franchise. Rask and the Bruins will face their former teammate on Thursday night, when Thomas is expected to start for the Florida Panthers against visiting Boston. Thomas, a former ninth-round pick by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1994 draft, signed as a free agent with the Bruins in 2002 and made his NHL debut with the club that season, appearing in four games. He eventually became the No. 1 goaltender with the Bruins and went 196-121-45 in 378 regular-season games with the club. The 39-year-old also posted a postseason record of 29-21 in 50 games with the Bruins, logging a 2.07 goals against average and .933 save percentage. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2011 after helping lead Boston to its first Stanley Cup title since 1972. Thomas, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, played one more season with the Bruins before sitting out the lockout-shortened campaign. He became a free agent this past offseason and appeared in training camp with the Panthers on a professional tryout before signing a one-year deal just before the start of the season. Thomas has made three appearances with the Panthers, allowing nine goals on 60 shots faced. However, he has not played since exiting last Tuesdays game versus Philadelphia early with a groin injury. He is expected to play tonight, per Floridas official twitter account. "All those years shooting on him in practice and what not, I think itll be fun to finally shoot on him in a game and Im sure hes looking forward to it as well," said Bostons Milan Lucic. "Im sure hes happy to be back in the NHL playing and hes found a new home here in Florida." Thomas year off allowed Rask to grab hold of Bostons starting goaltender job after he spent the majority of his career backing up the former since being acquired from Toronto on June 24, 2006. Rask went 19-10-5 with a 9.29 GAA in 36 games last season, helping the Bruins get to the Stanley Cup Finals. "I never thought that we would play against each other. But Im glad that he made his comeback and proved people wrong again, and I hope he does well," said the 26-year-old Rask, who is 7-1-0 with a 0.86 GAA, .972 save percentage and three shutouts lifetime versus the Panthers. Boston will play three straight on the road after opening the season with four of five at home and lost for the second time in its past three games with Mondays 3-2 setback to Detroit. Loui Eriksson and Milan Lucic tallied for the Bruins, while Rask made 24 saves. "Were really struggling with our finish right now. The chances are there but goals are not coming easy," noted Bruins head coach Claude Julien. The Panthers, meanwhile, begin a six-game homestand and have lost five of seven to begin the season. They were last in action on Tuesday, a 4-3 setback to Nashville. Jonathan Huberdeau, Marcel Goc and Matt Gilroy netted goals in the loss, while Jacob Markstrom surrendered all four goals on 30 shots. "We did some good things tonight with our forecheck and creating turnovers," said Huberdeau. "We can look to build on that for our next game and get some of our mistakes straightened out." The Bruins won all three of their meetings with the Panthers a season ago, outscoring them 11-2. They have won nine of the last 11 encounters overall and six of the past seven in Florida. Shane Vereen Super Bowl Patriots Jersey . Poyets immediate challenge is to produce Sunderlands first victory in the league, with the northeast club bottom with just one point from seven matches. "Trust me, believe, connect with the team," Poyet said after signing a two-year contract. Shane Vereen Jersey . Wrights first stint with Milwaukee was on a 10-day contract from March 14-23. He played in two games, averaging six points and two rebounds in 16.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. This check was not a late check as Scotts. However, the check still targeted the head of an opposing player! Please explain the consistency/inconsistency of penalties called here? Tom Van Dusen --- Kerry, Can you explain why the NHL has completely ignored the high hit Chara leveled in Thursday nights game against the Sharks? It was on Tommy Wingels - It was well late and you can see Chara appear to intentionally go high by bringing his arms up right before contact. So the size differential between the players shouldnt be a factor. How to on-ice officials missed it is beyond me, but more perplexing is the league ignoring them as well? How can they say they are serious about head shots and player safety, but allow these hits to go unpunished? Looking forward to your insight. Spencer Doherty CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO Tom and Spencer: Call me a dreamer but in a "perfect NHL" I would like nothing better than to see all contact to the head eliminated. The harsh reality is that given the speed of this contact sport, attack angles and body position can often be altered just prior to an intended legal hit. As a result, there are times when I am afraid to admit contact to the head will continue to occur. Under the current playing rules, contact to the head in almost all cases should be worthy of at least a minor penalty; but not always a suspension. The intended check by Zdeno Chara that resulted in Tommy Wingels head becoming the main point of contact is one of these times. The call on the ice should have resulted in a minor for high-sticking or two minutes for illegal check to the head. Every play must be judged on its own merit. Several factors, including the language contained in rule 48, must be considered when a potential suspension is warranted. Rather than looking at the current rule as ambiguous (which admittedly is not easy to do) let us attempt to dissect the language and apply it to Charas hit on Wingels versus the other end of the spectrum; John Scotts head shot on Loui Eriksson. An illegal check to the head results when the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable. In determining if Charas contact to Wingels head was avoidable, we must factor in the following: i) Whether the player (Chara) aattempted to hit squarely through the opponents body and the head was not picked as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward. Shane Vereen Super Bowl Womens Jersey. ii) Whether the opponent (Wingels) put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable. iii) Whether the opponent (Wingels) materially changed the position of his body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact. Zdeno Chara approached Tommy Wingels to make a hit squarely through the body with his shoulder. Charas hands and stick, based on his left shooting posture, were positioned in front of the intended contact and to seal off Wingels route to the net at the boards. Tommy Wingels anticipated the contact from Chara after releasing the puck to teammate Tomas Hertl directly behind the Bruins net and ducked down in an attempt to slip the intended check by Big Z. Chara reacted to this material change of Wingels body position at the last second by extending his hands to make contact; albeit to the head/helmet of his opponent. I deem this illegal contact to be a high-sticking infraction or a minor penalty for illegal check to the head, if you prefer! How could it be missed on the ice, you asked? The referee, deep in the corner on the opposite side of the ice, set up in a direct line looking through Hertl who provided an obstructed view for the finish of Charas hit on Wingels. Referee-1 became a puck watcher on the play and missed Charas infraction as Hertl received the pass with no threat of being checked by a Bruins defender. There was no need for Ref-1 to maintain a visual focus on Hertl at this time. Ref 2 on the same side of the ice and outside the blue line as Zdeno Charas hit was most likely obstructed by Charas body and did not see the hands come up to make contact with Wingels head. These reasons do not excuse the fact that both Refs missed the call on the ice but provide you with some insight as to how it could have occurred. Both Refs needed to move their feet to gain the proper angle and retain a focus of attention on the finish of Zdeno Charas illegal check on Tommy Wingels. While this play was deserving of a two minute penalty (but no suspension), I would like to see the maximum allowable fine implemented in all cases where the head was the main point of contact resulting from an illegal check. The capability to fine players is currently within the arsenal of the Player Safety Committee to help act as a deterrent for contact to the head of an opponent. cheap jerseyscheap jerseys from china ' ' '
