The day after Tim Thomas gets himself a new contract (4 years, $20 million), the Bruins clinch their first Eastern Conference title since 2001-02. And the aforementioned Timmy makes 31 saves to shut out the Rangers. Talk about perfect timing.

There's a lot to love about the Thomas signing; the B's lock up one of the best goaltenders in the league (at least over the past two seasons), and Timmy gets the type of financial security he never dreamed of after resigning himself to the fact that he would probably never sniff the NHL several years ago when The Razor was starting regularly for the B's. $20 million over 4 years is a manageable figure if Timmy continues to perform at this level or something slightly below it, but the glaring negative here is that it will definitely impact the team's ability to lock up both David Krejci and Phil Kessel this offseason. Hopefully they can finagle something to keep them both using the money that is coming off the books (particularly with Manny Fernandez likely leaving via free agency).

In terms of today's game, I don't think I've seen a better penalty kill all season (and granted, I haven't seen every single one...) than the one following Savy's bullshit crosschecking penalty with under five minutes to go in the third (nice dive, Gomez). Axelson and Yelle especially really stepped up big in the most crucial two minutes of the game — P.J. staying patient and intercepting that pass at the point, and Yelle taking a slapper off the shin and getting up to send the puck down ice... that's what those guys are here for, and they did their jobs perfectly in back-to-back shifts.

And you gotta how love how Timmy was having none of Avery's shit when he smacked him in the back of the helmet with his stick. Lesser goalies (read: pussies) would have accepted Sloppy Seconds' half-assed apology and moved on, but not Timmy. That dude was ready to drop the gloves — errr, glove and blocker — like his more pugnacious counterparts on the team. I'm certainly looking forward to another four years of that intensity.