It was a pre-game home-game ritual outside the Bruins dressing room for seven years: run hallway sprints and sprinkle it with a little light shadow boxing. Once the bell sounded to start the game, however, quite the opposite: a hard-hitting first shift often punctuated with a two- or three-rounder to get the adrenalin flowing – for him and the team.

That was then.

This is now.

After seven seasons on Causeway Street, former Bruins’ enforcer – and force – Shawn Thornton came home to a resounding pre-game applaud from his loyal admirers.

At 37, and now a Florida Panther, Thornton is in the twilight of a career most NHL players would die for.

Two Stanley Cups with “S. Thornton” etched on each – Anaheim in 2007 and the 2011 here.

Enough bouts in his 748 career penalty minutes in Boston to fill an edition of “Ring Magazine.”

Enough Beantown memories to fill a multi-year diary.

His 480 games in Black-and-Gold, 75 career points, and a 12-minute-a-game playing average won’t get the No. 22 lifted to the Garden rafters. But Thornton was never about style and points. At 6-foot-2 and 217 pounds, he was only about grind and grit.

At 6:47 of the first period, the big guy was given a Garden tribute when the Jumbotron displayed a short montage of his Bruins memories, while the crowd chanted: “Let’s go Thornton.” A small dedication to a very dedicated Bruin.

While Thornton’s legacy might well be laced around images of pugilism and petty pitfalls, he deserves praises for his local foundation work – and his contribution to the Bruins Cup win in 2011.

That series hinged on Game 3 with the Bruins trailing two games to none.

Alex Burrows had allegedly bitten Patrice Bergeron’s ear in Game 1 in Vancouver.

In the lineup for Game 3 after a healthy scratch for Game 2, and before the Garden faithful had settled into their cushions, Thornton buried Burrows into the glass — and the Bruins went on to an 8-1 trouncing.

They shutout the Canucks in Game 4, 4-0, en route to the seven-game series triumph.

One incident a game or series does not make. But Thornton had the knack for hard knocks that impacted games with no stat attached.

After eight games in south Florida, Thornton remains without a first Panther point, while the team has had a point in each of its last eight games. He ended the night with 20 shifts and 16:03 of ice time

“I really wanted the win,” Thornton said to a crowded media postgame. “To get a standing ovation in a visiting arena is pretty special. I appreciate it; the fans have always been great to me here. Once the game got going, it doesn’t matter; we’re out there to play hard and win. It was all over once the puck dropped.”

“I had a great seven years here and tonight was very nice to get that tribute and standing ovation,” Thornton added. “They didn’t have to do that. It was everything and more.”

Former teammate Brad Marchand netted the game winner at 3:27 of overtime for the 2-1 Bruins’ win, and commented after about the worthiness of the Thornton tribute.

“It was a good tribute. I think we all knew it was coming,” Marchand said about Thornton. “Every time someone’s come back to town that has been on our team, they get one, and it’s been great. He was here for a long time, the city loves him, and he was a good teammate. It’s good to see, and it was fun to play against him.”

From 2007-2014, Shawn Thornton always had a great Boston presence.

“It’s a normal thing when you lose a guy like Shawn,” Claude Julien said at his pre-game press conference. “You lose a guy that has a great presence.”

See what Thornton, Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Tuukka Rask and Roberto Luongo had to say after the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime win on Tuesday night.