THOMAS BACK, WOLVES WIN

THUNDER BAY, ON- Tim Thomas returned to the ice for the Thunder Bay Timberwolves to a thunderous ovation at the Canadian National Gardens on Tuesday night.
>>>After being injured five days ago in Karlstad, Sweden, the Timberwolves have lost all three games since.
>>>"We simply were not getting the job done," said head coach, Craig Hartsburg. "The simple things were not being executed. The others teams exposed that and we paid. In my opinion this wasn't about Thomas not being there. Ells (Brian Elliott) and (Joey) MacDonald weren't getting the support they needed."
>>>Even while on the road, the fans back home were quite aware of what was going on, and growing impatient with the effort on the ice. Thus a standing ovation for who many would say is the best player on the roster. Tim Thomas.
>>>With the Reykjavik Puffin in town and playing Roberto Luongo. It looked as if this would be a showdown with two of the leagues best netminders. A close, low-scoring contest. The latter would not be the case.
>>>Within the first 90 seconds, the Puffin had put two behind Thomas. There was a hush amongst the sellout crowd. Maybe it wasn't just their beloved goalie.
>>>Keith Ballard would answer at 2:48 in the first. Easing some heartache.
>>>At 14:53, and on the power play, Sheldon Souray danced the blueline and after finding his spot through a screened Luongo, blasted a shot from the top of the circle past the Puffin tender to tie things up.
>>>Nigel Dawes would end up breaking the tie and the Puffin would go into the first intermission with a one goal lead.
>>>"We knew that Roberto was beatable tonight," said Ballard. "He's a world class goalie, and it's often that you feel this way about scoring on him. But going into the room, we felt we could beat him."
>>>Despite their confidence, the Timberwolves would soon be down two goals after Devon Setoguchi would score at 8:39 in the second.
>>>Bryan Little did his part to bring Thunder Bay back from the brink. The rookie took an errant pass from a Puffin player and broke away uncontested. Beating Luongo after a series of dekes and quick snap over the glove.
>>>David Backes (pictured) took a 5-minute major for dropping the gloves and taking shots at Reykjavik's Matt Greene. Greene immitated a punching bag and Backes sat alone in the penalty box.
>>>Greene and the Puffin would pay for not wanting to dance. Ethan Moreau intercepted a cross ice pass at the Timberwolves blueline and drove up the ice with Bryce Salvador and Dean McAmmond. The speedster McAmmond would end up the shooter. Putting the puck behind Luongo with a shorthanded goal to tie things up once again.
>>>For good measue, Backes would end up scoring two goals for himself in the third period.
>>>Matt Greene scored the final one. But it was not enough and the Timberwolves would win 6-5.
>>>
>>>3 STARS
>>>*** Dean McAmmond (THU) - Shorthanded tying goal
>>>** Henrik Zetterberg (REK) - Goal & 2 assists
>>>* David Backes (THU) - 2 goals, including game winner
>>>
Next game: Thursday, vs Winnipeg (8-6-1) at the Canadian National Gardens