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PITTSBURGH — The absence of Kimmo Timonen is not going to change anything in the Pittsburgh Penguins' approach to their NHL playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers.
While much of the hockey world substantially discounted the Flyers' chances of upsetting the Penguins in the Eastern Conference final when their best defenceman was lost for the rest of the playoffs due to a blood clot in his ankle, the Penguins say they are not counting on anything when the series opens Friday night.
"We're not going to assume anything," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said after the game-day skate Friday morning. "Obviously, it's a big loss for them. But it's a prime example of when guys go down, other guys step up."
However, Timonen's loss is enormous for the Flyers. He played 25 minutes a game, quarterbacked the power play and, most important, would have been on the ice trying to neutralize Penguins star Evgeni Malkin, their best player in the post-season.
"It's one of those things that you can't get caught thinking about it because you don't want to assume anything," Crosby said. "An easy assumption would be maybe their power play is not going to be where it needs to be because he's out. But that could make us pay. That means that we're overconfident, and I don't think we can afford to do that.
"To be honest, we've worked too hard to let other situations affect the way we play. We'd be hurting ourselves by doing that."
Besides, Crosby added, the Penguins managed to carry on this season, and actually shoot up the standings, when he and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury were lost for long periods with injuries.
"When guys were out, we had a lot of guys step up and we surprised a lot of people," he said. "I'm sure a lot of guys in [the Flyers'] room are trying to do the same thing. So it wouldn't be smart on our part to take that lightly."
On the Penguins' injury front, centre Maxime Talbot remains out with a broken foot suffered in the previous round. Adam Hall will remain in Talbot's spot as the fourth-line centre.
The Flyers will dress Jaroslav Modry to fill out their list of defencemen for Friday night's opener. And Randy Jones will slide into Timonen's spot on the point on the power play.
"Well, obviously, Kimmo's a huge part of the team and he has been all year - power play, the penalty kill, and five-on-five," Flyers defenceman Derian Hatcher said. "So, he's going to be tough to replace. But we're in the series. We have the attitude we can win this series. We had it with him and we have it now.
"Hockey is one of the true team sports. It's not an individual sport. He will be missed, but we feel we can get on without him until we have to."
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