 Flyers Johnson silent, but deadly
NHL.com
Maybe the Philadelphia Flyers are just used to losing defensemen to injury.
Throughout the season, the team has often had trouble finding six healthy defensemen to dress for a game. In fact, injuries were so widespread at times that Bob Clark, Philadelphia's general manager, had to make two desperation trades during the season to land vets Danny Markov and Vladimir Malakhov to bolster a depleted roster.
Then, on the eve of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, another veteran defenseman -- Eric Desjardins -- was lost for the season after re-injuring a broken arm that cost him more than a month of the regular season.
So, perhaps, it was just weariness that caused the Flyers to greet Kim Johnsson's broken hand -- suffered in the final game of a five-game ouster of the New Jersey Devils in the first round -- with such a blas? attitude.
Because, in simple fact, there is no way to replace all the things that the 28-year-old Swede brings the rink each day. Not even when forward-turned-defenseman Sami Kapanen plays above his head, using his smarts and speed, to fill Johnsson's place on the blue line
"In my opinion, he's one of the best defenseman in the League," said Flyers forward Jeremy Roenick who plays on a nightly basis against the best defensemen other teams have to offer. "He doesn't get enough credit because he's so young and he's in a conference with so many good defensive players."
Roenick issued this soundbite just minutes after the Flyers won Game 4 against New Jersey, a game in which Johnsson delivered the winning goal just 1:18 into the contest by pinching in to slam a rebound past Martin Brodeur.
For the series, Johnsson finished with six points in the five games, scoring that memorable goal and adding five assists. But sometime during the Game 5 win at the Wachovia Center, Johnsson was struck by a slap shot on the back of his right hand, cracking a bone.
Despite a lengthy layoff while waiting for Toronto to finish off Ottawa in seven games in their first-round showdown, Johnsson could not get healthy enough to make it back for the start of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
No matter, said the stoic Flyers.
After winning the first two games against the Leafs at the Wachovia Center, such a hardened attitude seemed legitimate. But, then came a loss in Game 3 at the Air Canada Centre. Suddenly, there was Johnsson for Game 4, taking the ice with his hand wrapped in a top-secret protective cast.
Rusty, and a tad tentative, Johnsson was not much help in Game 4. Playing just a shade under 24 minutes, he was a minus-2 with two shots. He was on the ice for both Mats Sundin's second-period game-winner and Darcy Tucker's third-period insurance goal.
But that all changed in Game 5, a dominant 7-2 win by the Flyers. Johnsson played 25 minutes, logging serious time after a first-period injury to defenseman Malakhov. Not only did finish a plus-3, he also figured prominently in two goals.
On the Flyers' second goal, Johnsson rushed almost the length of the ice, pushing the Toronto defense onto its heels. Then, he stopped short, leaving a perfect drop pass for Simon Gagne, who immediately dished to Michal Handzus for a hard wrister that beat Ed Belfour to the short side. Less than six minutes in, Philadelphia owned a 2-0 lead.
Early in the second, his outlet pass to Branko Radivojevic started things in motion for Keith Primeau's second goal, pretty conversion of a Gagne feed. Johnsson did not receive an assist on the play, but the pass helped show he has fully regained his timing and confidence.
Which is a very good thing, indeed, says Roenick.
"He has the ability to control the game," Roenick said before Johnsson's injury. "I'm amazed that he isn't even mentioned when it comes to the Norris Trophy. Not to win it, I don't think yet. But, he should be on the edges. In my opinion, he is one of the best defenseman in the East, right behind (New Jersey's Scott) Niedermayer, who is the best out there.
"He's without a doubt, our most consistent player every single day. He can do it all from back there. He has incredible lateral movement, good speed and unbelievable stick-handling skills."
The quiet Johnsson, who never seeks the spotlight and barely speaks above a whisper in the post-game dressing room, deflects praise almost as cannily as he blunts the danger posed by an attacking forward.
"When our forwards are doing a great job down low, I can just jump in the holes and make something happen," he says. "That's perfect."
Johnsson, part of the package that landed the New York Rangers Eric Lindros three years ago, led the team's defensemen in points during the regular season. He scored 27 of his career-high 42 points (13 goals, 29 assists) in the final 38 games of the regular season as Philadelphia held off a spirited charge from New Jersey to win the Atlantic Division and home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of the playoffs.
He admits that he was starting to feel his offensive oats before the injury in the first round.
"Of course, I want to join the rush and go from there and see what happens," said Johnsson. "It's a confidence thing. When you feel good, you feel like you have the jump and can find the holes and make things happen."
Now, the Flyers -- just one win away from landing in the Eastern Conference Finals against top-seeded Tampa Bay -- are hoping Johnsson is well on his way to once again locating the confidence that made him the first round's silent, but indispensable, star.
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