El SEGUNDO, Calif. - Tim Thomas had been there and he had absolutely no mercy for Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov.

With the game on the line in a shootout, Thursday, Bruins mammoth defenseman Zdeno Chara skated to the slot and unleashed one of his plus 100-mph slap shots from about 20 feet in front of Nabokov.

The puck rocketed past Nabokov into the net and boomeranged back out. Chara’s cannon blast from short range was simply too overpowering.

“For sure that’s fair. I have to see it in practice all the time,” said Thomas laughing during a phone call Friday. “I’m happy somebody else had to face that - he’s very good at it.”

When Thomas stopped Patrick Marleau with the Sharks fourth and final attempt in the shootout, the Bruins left the ice with a spirited 2-1 victory. They needed to throw together some make shifts lines after losing yet another center, this time David Krejci, before faceoff. They had to overcome a strong San Jose attack. Thomas had to make 41 saves and his teammates needed to block 22 more shots, but they left the ice with two points.

“You see them laying it on the line and making a big play, you want to have their back and continue to make big plays,” said Thomas of his shot blocking teammates. “You feed off each other, you see one guy stepping up above and beyond and you want to step up to make the whole effort worth it. That’s kind of how the whole night went last night, going into the shootout, I’m thinking to myself with the effort we gave tonight the guys deserve (a win) and you try to reward them.”

The Bruins will now look to build upon Thursday’s big win as they conclude a three-game California road trip skating against the Kings in Los Angeles Saturday afternoon. In order to end the trip on a good note, the injury depleted B’s will have to muster a strong attack against LA goalie Jonathan Quick, a Milford, Connecticut native who has emerged as the Kings top goalie, in part following an example set by Thomas.

When Quick was settling in as a freshman at UMass in 2005, he spent many nights studying Thomas as he earned a spot as the Bruins top goalie.

“In the college dorm the only hockey channel we got was NESN,” said Quick, who was impressed by Thomas’s approach to the game. “About half way through the year he got his opportunity and ran with it, it was good to see how well he played and he hasn’t looked back. Winning the Vezina [Trophy] last year and everything, his hard work really paid off.”

Quick utilized a similar style to emerge as the Kings starter. As the team struggled to find quality goaltending, it took a chance on Quick last season and he ran with it. He jumped in to play 44 games, beating out Erik Ersberg to become the team’s top goalie.

This season Quick, who will turn 24 Thursday, has played in all but five of the Kings 47 games. His play this year (2.53 GAA, .908 SP) led to a spot on the US Olympic team beside Thomas and Buffalo’s Ryan Miller. Quick and Thomas were roommates at the US Olympic training camp in Chicago last summer.

“Meeting him in Chicago and being his roommate I got to know him, we got a long real well,” Thomas said. “I got to see him play more this summer. He’s a big athletic goalie.”

Both goalies are coming off strong wins. Quick posted a 4-0 shutout against Anaheim Thursday, while Thomas was making his 41-save effort to spark the Bruins 2-1 shootout victory in San Jose. They’ll be teammates hoping to earn gold for the US in Vancouver, but Saturday the two NHL opportunists will square off against each other 180 feet apart at Staples Center when the Kings host the Bruins.

“It should be a great game, two good teams going head to head,” Quick said.

And Olympic teammates or not, don’t expect Thomas to have any sympathy for his goalie brethren if Big Z winds up for another short range blast in the shootout.