The hurdles continue to mount for the Flyers in their quest to win Lord Stanley’s Cup.  First it was losing top defenseman Kimmo Timonen for the series with a blood clot in his ankle.  Now they’ve lost the guy trying to fill his shoes. 

Braydon Coburn has hit in the eye with a deflected puck in the first period of last night’s loss.  Coburn immediated dropped and the medical staff was on the ice to tend to him.  He received 50 stitches to close the gash, but his left eye was swollen shut.  There’s always some concern when it’s an injury to the face.  The possibility of a concussion or permanent eye damage exsists.  Although he suffered some dizziness on the return trip to Philadelphia, doctor’s feel that there’s no serious damage to his eye.  That’s excellent news for the budding star.  Unfortunately, he’ll be out for Game 3 against the Penguins.

This news couldn’t be worse for the Flyers, who with Timonen out have already struggled to contain the powerful Penguins offense.  Rookie Ryan Parent will most replace Coburn if he cannot go.  Parent only has 24 games of NHL experience under his belt, but is a very speedy defender.  Asking him to shadow Sidney Crosby might be a tall order, but it’s what the Flyers will ask him to do. 

Parent won’t be doing it on his own.  Darian Hatcher, Randy Jones, Lasse Kukkonen, Jaro Modry, and Jason Smith, all need to step it up, and stop the Penguins guns from getting through.  As Hatcher said last night’s post-game interview, “it’s time to suck it up“.

Things are looking bleek for the Flyers.  Their two top defenseman are out, and they’re in a 2-0 hole in the best-of-seven series.  Things are looking bleak. 

Is it over?  Far from it…