WILMINGTON -- On the ice, Tim Thomas is known for being all over the place. Relying on world-class reflexes rather than any conventional method between the pipes, Thomas lives and dies by a wild style. 

Behind the mask, Thomas is sharp as a tack. You’d be hard-pressed to find something relating to his opponents that the 36-year-old doesn’t know. From the ratio of right-handed to left-handed shooters on the ice at any given moment to the color of tape players use on their sticks, Thomas is aware of plenty.

He’s also aware of statistics. Though not the type to get caught up in his own accomplishments, Thomas generally knows where he stands. Earlier in the season, when reporters would bring up his flashy numbers, Thomas noted that he’d actually had better numbers in Finland. When asked about picking up his eighth shutout of the season last month against Montreal, Thomas said that he wasn’t aware which number it was, though he later mentioned that it was the 25th of his career. Simply put, Thomas knows plenty, and his statistics are simply among the things he keeps in storage.  

Yet, if you try to get Thomas to wax poetic about how great his numbers are, he isn’t interested. Thomas knows what he’s accomplished, but he generally likes to put things in perspective of what his efforts mean to the team, and not to himself. Yet looking at his 2010-11 campaign, it’s hard for anybody to not view it as one of the best of all time. Even after allowing four goals in a not-so-great performance Monday night against the Rangers, Thomas’ save percentage sits at .938 on the season.

If you’re looking for another goalie with a .938 mark, you won’t find it. 

Since the NHL began recording save percentage in 1982-83, Dominik Hasek is the man who has set the gold standard (unofficially, Jacques Plante was at .942 in 1970-71). In the third of his three consecutive Vezina seasons in the 1990’s, Hasek set what is considered the record at .937. 

Since then, goaltenders have trended upward in the category (click here for a good look at that over at QuantHockey.com), but nobody has touched Hasek’s .937. This season, Thomas’ numbers have been anywhere from well above the mark (.945 at the end of January) to below it, to right around it, which is where he currently finds himself. With three games remaining and Tuukka Rask figuring to get some playing time, it’s likely the record could come down to how he performs in one or two games. He knows from experience how much it can fluctuate.

In speaking with WEEI.com about the possibility of setting the record, Thomas asked, “What was Hasek’s? .937?” Upon confirmation of the stat, and being told that he was at .938, Thomas responded with a laugh and said, “Well, two games ago I was at .940.”

Thomas says he is ultimately more concerned with whether his team is winning games than whether he is setting records. Still, he knows it's there.  

“I've been made aware of it over the last couple of months,” Thomas, a shoo-in for his second Vezina in three seasons, said. “I try not to concentrate on that. I try just to concentrate on each game individually. The ultimate goal is to win the game, but during the game, the less you let the other team score, the easier it is to win, and also the less the other team gets confidence.

“When you get down to the end here, it's hard not to realize the numbers. The challenge would be just to focus and play the same way that you've played the game for 98 percent of the season.”

Thomas certainly isn’t upset to hear about his numbers, but he views the situation as one in which he has bigger fish to fry. When friends, family and media began telling him of his potentially historic standing, Thomas made it a point to not let his mind wander too far off into stat land. 

“They are potentially some very good things, so it's not something that's negative to be made aware of. Most of the year, I didn't focus on it,” Thomas said. “Even with 20 games left, things can change so much over the course of 20 games.”

As for what the distinction of having the best save percentage since the stat’s existence would mean to him, Thomas isn’t ready to reflect on the honor until he actually has it. 

"Talk to me after the season," Thomas politely offered. "I don't want to talk about it [yet]. It's a 'watched pot never boils' kind of deal."