Tue Feb 12, 2019 5:27 am
(SportsNetwork.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. Black Air VaporMax China . PAUL, Minn. Air VaporMax China 2019 . Louis Blues brought in the premier unrestricted free agent centre, and did it without breaking the bank. http://www.cheapairvapormaxchina.us/ .Before a raucous sellout crowd, the Hawks won for the 29th time in 31 games to extend their Eastern-best record to 36-8.As usual, pretty much everyone chipped in.Four starters were in double figures and backup point guard Dennis Schroder led a spurt at the start of the fourth quarter that helped the Hawks pull away. Red Air VaporMax China Online . -- Tiago Splitter tipped in a rebound with 2. Air VaporMax China For Sale . -- Ben Brust scored 19 points to lead six Wisconsin players in double figures as the No.A suspicious item found at Old Trafford on Sunday, which caused Manchester Uniteds game against Bournemouth to be postponed, has now been identified as a training device left in error. According to Greater Manchester Police, the device had accidentally been left by a private company following a training exercise involving explosive sniffer dogs held last Wednesday.Shortly before the final league game of the season was due to kick-off at 3pm, ground staff alerted police to a suspicious item that had been found in the toilets within the North West quadrant, between the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand and the Stretford End. A bomb disposal vehicle outside of Old Trafford after the Manchester United v Bournemouth game was abandoned Initially, a partial evacuation of the stadium was put in place but a decision was made between police and Manchester United club officials to abandon the game and a full controlled evacuation of the stadium was undertaken.A controlled explosion was then carried out on the suspect package which was described as an incredibly realistic-looking explosive device. Old Trafford was evacuated after the discovery of a suspect package in the North West Quadrant of the ground Assistant Chief Coonstable John OHare from Greater Manchester Police said: I am grateful to the Manchester United and Bournemouth supporters for their support and assistance today.ddddddddddddFollowing todays controlled explosion, we have since found out that the item was a training device which had accidentally been left by a private company following a training exercise involving explosive search dogs. A police sniffer dog at Old Trafford after the match was called off Whilst this item did not turn out to be a viable explosive, on appearance this device was as real as could be, and the decision to evacuate the stadium was the right thing to do, until we could be sure that people were not at risk. Everyone remained calm, followed instructions, and worked with officers and stewards to ensure that a safe evacuation was quickly completed. Those present today were a credit to the football family and their actions should be recognised.I would also like to thank all those involved in the operation today for such a professional response, which includes police officers, stewards, MUFC staff, media representatives and commentators and the Bomb Disposal Team.The match has been rescheduled for Tuesday with an 8pm kick-off, and will be shown live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 7.30pm. Executive vice chairman Ed Woodward (left) says lessons will be learned United executive-vice chairman Ed Woodward said: The safety of fans is always our highest priority.Id like to thank the support from the police which was first class and the impeccable response from fans of both teams.The club takes security very seriously and staff are regularly trained with the police and emergency services to identify and deal with these incidents. We will investigate the incident to inform future actions and decisions. 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