BOSTON -- When Tuukka Rask went down with an injury on March 3, Bruins No. 1 goaltender Tim Thomas knew he'd be carrying most of the load.
But outside the Bruins dressing room, many wondered just how Claude Julien could find a way to give the 37-year-old some sort of rest down the stretch, and hoping to get his best once again in the playoffs.
According to Thomas, following his fifth shutout of the season in an 8-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, that talk of rest outside the dressing room was just that. It's only "outside" the dressing room.
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"We haven't talked about it at all," said Thomas, while also acknowledging that there was no talk of taking him out for the third period with the Bruins holding a 7-0 lead through the first two.
"There hasn't been any talk of it, and at this point, I don't think there needs to be any, on our end," added Thomas. "You guys can. It's OK. That's fun for hockey fans and everything, to speculate. But in here, it hasn't really been an issue. If we were to talk about rest, it would be mostly for a practice day or something."
And for those who may have been concerned with Thomas' poor play and his 2-5 record through the first seven games without Rask, he pointed out after Monday's win that he was battling an illness.
"I knew that I might be in a situation where I had to play a lot of games, but I was looking forward to it," said Thomas. "The only thing is, when it happened, I had a virus for a couple of weeks, when Tuukka got hurt. And it took me about a week after he left, to totally get over it. But now, I'm feeling better."