It's been three years since Joe Thornton last played a game in Boston The Boston crowd didn't get much of a chance to react to the game since Joe got ejected, but I'm sure they'll make up for lost time tonight.
Back when the B's first got Thornton I really liked him. Sure he only had something like 7 points his rookie season, but you could tell by watching that he could be really good. I told everyone that complained about his performance that if you go to a game just watch him. He was smooth, he was calm, he made nice smart passes. He just looked like he had it.
Over the years he started doing better and better. He started to come into his own under Pat Burns (not really, but started to), and really begain to flourish under Mike Keenan (why did he only last a year again?). Until he really started to become a force putting up some solid numbers including a 100 pt effort in 02-03.
That being said I'm glad he's gone. He never really seemed to get it done. He was big, and talented, but just didn't seem to play as well as I wanted him to. Sure he got a lot of points. Sure, like I said he put up some solid numbers, but he just lacked something. He didn't fire up the home crowd like Neely did, he didn't give you the feeling of "don't worry Joe's on the ice he'll take care of this." like you would get from Bourque. He just never really made you feel like he could carry the team.
Couple that with his lack of success in the post season and I started to care less and less about the Bruins trading him. I distinctly remember that when I heard abou the trade I wasn't upset that he was gone. I was just stunned that we somehow didn't at least get Patrick Marleau in return.
So now he's coming back. What do I think will happen? Honestly I think he'll have a quiet night. I don't think he will handle the crowd being against him that well (and I think they will be, sure he left on ok terms, and he was liked overall, but lets be honest. The Bruins fans want the B's to win, not for Jumbo Joe to do well). He's a Shark now, and he probably wouldn't have performed as well if he had stayed here. The trade was a little shot that got him going to prove the B's wrong.
So I think the B's will win 5 - 3. I think Thornton will get an assist, sure its a point but not the point the Sharks want.