How come it is every time the Flyers make a great postseason run, they seem to be doomed by a crippling injury to one or more of their top players?

Whether it was Tim Kerr's shoulder, Dave Poulin's ribs, Eric Lindros' head, Eric Desjardins' wrist...

... or Kimmo Timonen's blood clot?

That's right, Timonen is most likely done or the season with a blood clot atop his right foot, resulting from a wicked slap shot from Montreal's Andrei Markov in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Just when there was reason for hope that the Flyers could end a 33-year Stanley Cup drought, they are blindsided by a weird injury to their best player.

It's like they made a deal with the devil to win in 1974 and 1975, and that every time they came close from there to eternity they would be smacked with a deflating injury to a key player that would prevent any sipping from the Stanley Cup on Broad Street.

There was definitely a somber mood in the phone conversations with Timonen and general manager Paul Holmgren, but coach John Stevens kept a stiff upper lift and remained positive.

But, the fact that the team took a bunker mentality (shout out out Ray Rhodes) in Pittsburgh and weren't available for comment, says to me that the team is not as confident as the coach would lead us all to believe.

It looks like Jaroslav Modry will be called on to step in for the Flyers, and that Derian Hatcher will be paired with Braydon Coburn on the top defensive pairing.

That means Jason Smith and Randy Jones will have the task of slowing a determined Sidney Crosby.

Sigh.

It's not looking good at this point for the Flyers.