VOORHEES, N.J. -- Given the alternative, Kimmo Timonen is willing to withstand de agony of de feet tomorrow, if you will forgive the hoary chestnut.
The Philadelphia Flyers defenceman says he is sure he can play in the fifth game of their NHL playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins despite a blood clot in his ankle. All he has to do, if practice goes all right today, is put up with numbness in his left foot and a lot of pain.
"But I'm sure we've got some medicine for pain," Timonen said with a laugh yesterday. "So we'll see how it goes."
If he is able to play, this will be the first bit of good news for the Flyers on the personnel front since the Eastern Conference final started. Without their best defenceman in the lineup, and then hit by the loss of another defencemen, Braydon Coburn in the second game, the Flyers let the Penguins take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series before they won the fourth game on Thursday night to stay alive.
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Yesterday's news about Coburn was much less encouraging, however. He was hit on the left eye by a shot in the second game of the series and needed more than 50 stitches to close a cut around his eye. The swelling came down enough for Coburn to see, but now it appears there are other complications.
The Flyers will not say Coburn, 23, has concussion-like symptoms, although he did get sick on the flight home from Pittsburgh after the injury. But Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said Coburn "does not feel right."
At this point, Coburn's status is up in the air. He refused to speak to reporters yesterday.
Timonen went to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on Thursday for a checkup. He was surprised when physician Steven Goldman cleared him to practise and assured him the blood clot will not break loose and cause serious health complications. He will continue taking blood thinners to treat the clot but will not take them on game days because patients are not supposed to be active after taking them.
"I wasn't expecting to get this kind of news," Timonen said. "It was unbelievable. I was just hoping, maybe, the guys were able to win [Thursday] and I'd get a chance to play on Sunday."
Flyers head coach John Stevens joked about the prospects of getting both players back in the lineup but declined to say either was a sure thing.
"I'm not banking on anything. Have you seen the markets lately?" Stevens said. "It's a good thing we've got a couple of days [off]. I think time is our friend right now. I can't say with any kind of certainty when they're in or they're out at this point."
At this point, Timonen looks like a better bet than Coburn.
"We're hopeful we can get [Coburn] on the ice [today] in practice, and see how he does," Stevens said. "That will be the tell-tale sign for us."
Before the series, Timonen was expected to be part of the checking effort on Penguins stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Timonen is the team's best shutdown defenceman and their best at moving the puck.
Without him, the Flyers struggled mightily in the first three games at moving the puck through the neutral zone. Even if the Flyers get Timonen back and have to sit Coburn, they will be better off.
"Kimmo always seems to be in the right spot at the right time," said Mike Richards, the Flyers' best forward in this series. "He's great at making that first pass out of the zone.
"So it just helps us, helps our offence that we don't have to take rushes because we can carry the puck up. We can carry the puck up a lot smoother when the first pass is on the tape all the time."
Having Timonen on the ice will also make life much easier for Flyers goaltender Martin Biron. He was not at his best in the first three games of the series.
"[Timonen] is even better on the ice when you don't notice him because he does the little things right all the time," Biron said. "He makes guys think twice. It's no secret he's an all-star, but there are guys around the league that have probably never noticed him. But when you play against him or play with him, that's when you appreciate his full value.
"I think that our defensive corps really looks at the way he is able to settle the game and settle our emotions out there."
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