At least Timonen can give advice

But given the chance to come here to support his teammates has given the Flyers' top defenseman something to do besides sit at home.

Timonen was given medical clearance to fly, something not often recommended for a person with a blood clot, and he jumped at the chance.

Flyers chairman Ed Snider "called me last night and said he was going to fly in [yesterday] with his plane and the doctors said I could fly," Timonen said. "I had a chance to talk to a lot of guys when I got here. They all said how sorry they are and that it's a bad break but I said don't feel sorry for me, you guys have a game tonight and I want you to win."

Timonen was lost for possibly the rest of the playoffs with a blood clot in his left ankle suffered late in Game 4 against Montreal when he was hit blocking a shot.

The injury was first thought to be only a bruise and he played in Game 5 in Montreal. With time to recover, the Flyers continued to treat the injury as a bruise but when it didn't improve, they sought medical consultation and learned late Thursday that Timonen would not be able to play.

"This has been a really hard 24 hours," he said last night. "Thursday morning I was still ready to go on the road with the boys and then I got the news that I can't play for this series and probably the rest of the season.

"It was awful. I can't even describe how I am feeling."

Timonen said he spoke with coach John Stevens when he arrived last night and was assured that he was a welcome addition. He said he would make himself available for advice if needed.

"We've faced a lot of adversity throughout the year, we've lost key guys for long periods of time and we were still able to win games," Timonen said. "That tells you what kind of team we have. I still believe we can overcome this and bring in players that can take my role. I'm really confident that is going to happen."

His teammates echoed Timonen. After the morning skate and just before the game, none of the Flyers seemed to have lost confidence. None tried to diminish the loss, but they all said the same thing.

Derian Hatcher said general manager Paul Holmgren told the team that the situation "is what it is and we have to deal with it."

"If you looked at the whole year, really, there probably wasn't more than a few days that we were completely healthy," Hatcher added. "And if you put [Simon Gagne] in there, really we weren't healthy all year. So that's the way we're looking at it.

"We've had injuries all year and we've battled through a lot of stuff and this is no different from that. Hockey is a true team game.

"Sure, this is going to make things tougher, don't get me wrong. It will make things tougher." *