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Flyers top Blackhawks, lose Kimmo Timonen

James van Riemsdyk

Philadelphia Flyers’ James van Riemsdyk celebrates after scoring the go-ahead goal in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012, in Philadelphia. Philadelphia won 5-4. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

AP

The Philadelphia Flyers attained a sliver of payback for the 2010 Stanley Cup finals by winning a thriller against the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3. Unfortunately, as per their custom, a great win came at what could be a heavy cost.

The Flyers’ rapidly thinning defense corps took what could be a big hit as Kimmo Timonen left the game twice with what’s being called an upper-body injury, according to Sam Carchidi. It’s quite possible that it won’t be a major issue, but Flyers Goal Scored By captured what could be a fearful scenario:

liljatweet

James

(Note: Lilja isn’t very good.)

Doom and gloom aside, the Flyers took advantage of their explosive offense to win in regulation. Philly took a 4-2 lead in the second period thanks to a three-goal outburst in less than five minutes and then dug the knife in deep when James van Riemsdyk scored a power-play game-winner with about 30 seconds to go.

It won’t heal all the wounds from that championship defeat (I’d put it far lower on the revenge scale than the Miami Heat’s season-opening throttling of the Dallas Mavericks), but one cannot blame the Flyers for taking some satisfaction from this one.

After all, if Timonen is out for an extended period of time, these wins might get even tougher to come by.