Timonen Out, Life Goes On
I didn’t want to believe it. When I received the text informing me that Flyers super-defenseman, Kimmo Timonen, will be out indefinitely with a blood clot, my heart sunk. I sat watching the rest of Iron Man pondering what is going to happen next.
The Eastern Conference Finals were 24 hours away, and the Philadelphia Flyers are going to be without their best defensive player. The clot was found in his ankle, right were Timonen ties his skate. To replace him will be either the statuesque, Jaroslav Modry or the not-ready-for-primetime Ryan Parent. Denis Gauthier is available in the AHL, but don’t hold your breath.
I see Timonen as the real captain of this team, especially during the postseason. He’s the one with the sound bites, he’s the one shutting down the opposing team’s top player. His play will be missed but just like life, the Orange&Black will move on. I’m not going to be like other writers who’ll cry into the sky and ask,
“Why us?” Shit happens and it’s a storm when it comes to rooting for any Philly team. As Flyers fans we’ve gone through this before. Remember Eric Desjardans - he was banged-up more than Turbo from the Gobots. Until now, the Flyers have been relatively healthy. This will be a huge loss but you play the game and you find out.
Before the news broke, to predict this series you would’ve had to employ Madam Ruby for some help. Now, all bets are off. Let’s see what Madam Ruby sees!
On defense, the Penguins are just as big and fast as the Flyers in some areas. The acquired Hal Gill has been one of their top blueliners in the postseason. With a veteran presence of Sergei Gonchar, Darryl Sydor, and Robert Scuderi, the Pens were able to breeze through Ottawa and keep the Rangers top lines in check.
The Flyers, without Timonen, will rely on Braydon Coburn, Randy Jones and Derian Hatcher for most of their penalty kills. Lasse Kukkonen and Jason Smith, who have seen declining minutes will need to step-up and not be such defesive liabilities.
On offense, the Penguins have great firepower, you already know that. Nuff said. Their balanced three lines, centered by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal will be a handful for the Flyers defense. On the Philly side, the hometown kid made good, RJ Umberger will lead another balanced offensive attack. Danny Briere, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards are going to have to maintain their high intensity if the Flyers have any chance of winning the series.
In net, I’d have to give the nod to Martin Biron over Marc-Andre Fleury. Granted, Biron has seen more shots but Fleury has not been tested as much. Biron helped steal the series from Montreal and could do the same against Pittsburgh.
It’s going to be tough winning a game seven at Mellon Arena but I see the Flyers pulling it out and going to the Stanley Cup finals. Flyers in Seven.
This entry was posted
on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 12:04 am and is filed under Montreal Canadiens, Braydon Coburn, Jeff Carter, Danny Briere, Kimmo Timonen, RJ Umberger, Jordan Staal, Mike Richards, Derian Hatcher, Martin Biron, Evgeni Malkin, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Flyers, Sidney Crosby, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Eastern Conference.
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10 Responses to “Timonen Out, Life Goes On”
May 9th, 2008 at 8:21 am
You’ve got to be kidding me. You would give the nod to a goalie that has never had success in the postseason until this year. Granted, neither has Fluery, but its obvious the kid is better, I mean he was a # overall pick in the draft. Get your shit straight you jobber. In addition, if you think there is ANY chance of shutting down either of our 4 lines you are out of your mind. Your best forward (Briere) would be playing alongside Georges Laraque and Max Talbot if he played on the Pens. Your entire team is a joke and your fans fist themselves. Cant wait to see all of you losers in Pittsburgh tonight. I’ll be the guy in a pens jersey jobbin you joke hockey fans just like Crosby does everytime he steps on the ice against your pathetic team.
PENS IN 3, LOSERS.
Peace Out,
USS
May 9th, 2008 at 10:04 am
“You’ve got to be kidding me. You would give the nod to a goalie that has never had success in the postseason until this year. Granted, neither has Fluery…”
Gotta love that logic.
This was going to be a tough series for the Flyers as it was, loosing Timonen is a killer. Some young guys are going to get some serious experience if nothing else. Also, I think this will end up making the series even that much more scrappy. The Flyers are really going to have to throw everything at the Pens now and really take advantage of any breaks they get…
in the end You never know..
Go Flyers!
May 9th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Great argument, Hal.
Let’s Go Flyer’s, Let’s Go Don Earl!
May 9th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Hal is the epitome of an overconfident Pens fan.
Everyone is voting against the Flyers because of what is seen on paper. The Flyers have something in them that you can’t exactly quantify on paper. Their heart, their resilience.
I honestly believe in this team.
Personally, I’d love for the Flyers to prove the hockey world wrong, once again.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
From ESPN.Com
5. Of the four remaining teams, which arena is the toughest to play in?
Burnside: I’m guessing Wachovia Center in Philly given that Flyers fans are whacked.
Hradek: Philly! You never know when a friendly Flyers fan is going to drop into the visiting penalty box.
Melrose: I think The Joe is the toughest to play in because it’s different, older than the others. There’s no flash and dash there; the dressing rooms are worse than the newer buildings. No lounges or anything for the players. All the buildings will be packed and loud, but The Joe is different. Of course, if you’re looking for sheer craziness, you don’t get any crazier than Philly.
LET’S GO FLY-ERS!!!!!!!
May 9th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
?????
May 9th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
3 hours! LET’S GO FLYERS!
May 9th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Gee Gil…The Kid has done a lot for hockey, but changing the playoff format is not one of them. Last I looked, you still needed FOUR wins in a series to advance. You might want to check the rules of hockey before coming to play with the grown-ups. Why don’t you go back to your sandbox and let us carry on with a real conversation.
May 11th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Crosby always grabs the headlines, but Malkin is the best Pen’s scoring threat. Crosby is a whining puss that seems to only care about the wrongdoings imposed on him, and not the rest of his team. Having said that, and being a devout Flyer’s fan, they (Flyer’s) need to bring an abundance of character to these games in light of Timonen’s absence, and check the shit out of the Pen’s without turning the puck over. The Flyer’s have more goal scorers than Pitt, and need to find ways to capitalize on their chances and limit the opportunity on the other side of the ice. One more thought: Philly went from dead last in 2007 to competing with only three other teams this late in the year- withouth Simone Gagne for more than 50 games. Regardless of the series outcome which is still too early to predict, the Flyer’s have made great strides for the future of hockey in Philly - I’d like to see where the Pen’s would be right now without the services of their top goal producer. We wouldn’t even be commenting on the Pen’s right now. F Pburgh.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:45 am
I’ll try to be a little more rational than Hal was, when talking about the Penguins (my favorite team) and this series. First of all, Biron MIGHT be a little better than Fleury, but it doesn’t really matter, even if he is. He’s going to have to be MUCH better than Fleury for two reasons.
First, as has been said, Fleury hasn’t been tested THAT much, and the reason for that isn’t just that Ottawa and New York don’t have the most high-powered offenses (frankly, neither does Philladelphia), but also because, for the first time that I can remember in the 13 years I’ve been following the team, the Penguins have a very good (and very underrated) defense, which do a great job of blocking shots, clearing the zone, killing penalties and generally making Fleury’s life a lot easier. But Fleury has also been up to the task when he has faced shots. There’s a reason he has the best save percentage in the playoffs.
Second, Biron has not faced the kind of firepower that the Penguins’ offense can bring. Sure, Washington had the current third best player in the world (after Malkin and Crosby) in Ovechkin, but they didn’t have much else, so the Flyers could focus on shutting him down, which they did pretty well, even though they got stretched to seven games. The Penguins are much deeper, with the two best players in the world anchoring two phenomenal lines, and two other lines that are very good for a team’s third and fourth line. As we saw in Game 1, the Flyers couldn’t handle Malkin and Crosby, who combined to score three goals. And the Pens can hang with the Flyers physically, as they have a very strong team, featuring the best enforcer in the league in Georges Laracque.
Finally, to Moron…err…Money’s remarks: First of all, I’m so sick of this Crosby is a whiner/diver garbage. It’s ironic that all the jealous fans and players around the league whine that Crosby whines or claim that he dives and conveniently ignore their players who do the same things, and a lot worse. And for the record, Crosby is NOT a diver. In all the games I’ve watched (though I only see maybe 25 percent every year, so I guess I may have missed something), I don’t think I’ve ever seen him truly dive. Diving is when you go down when there wasn’t a penalty to try to draw one. I’ve never see Crosby do this. Instead, Crosby is maybe the best in the league at drawing attention to himself when a penalty IS committed. When he gets slashed or tripped or high-sticked, he does an excellent job of selling the call to the officials to draw penalties. Does he overact a little? Sure. But it’s to make sure a penalty that actually happened is called, not to create a penalty where there wasn’t one.
Every time he draws a penalty, and the announcers talk about maybe he dove, they look at the tape, and Crosby is vindicated because there was a legitimate penalty.
Oh, and where would the Penguins be without their top goal-scorer for 50 games (and let’s be honest–Gagne isn’t in nearly the same class as Crosby or Malkin)? I don’t know, but they did lose the reigning Hart and Ross Trophy winner (who did lead the team in goals last season) in Crosby for nearly 30 games, and they had almost exactly the same winning percentage without him as with him because Malkin just started playing out of his mind and DOUBLED his scoring average in the games when Crosby was hurt. And Fleury was hurt for nearly as long too. So it’s not like the Penguins haven’t had to deal with injuries.
The Flyers and their fans (just like the Rangers and their fans) need to stop crying and actually beat the Penguins if they really think they’re better.
Pens in 5-6.
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