There will be a lot of them uttered between now and when Game 4 starts tomorrow night in the Wachovia Center. There will be talk about "leaving it all out on the ice," and "focusing on just one win," about individuals "stepping up."

"We've learned so far in the first series and against Montreal that the fourth win is always the hardest to get," Hartnell said. "We've got to have that mentality, we have to have every cliche you can use, just leave it out on the ice."

But that is not what is going to get the Flyers a win.

After what the Pittsburgh Penguins did to the Flyers in the 4-1 loss last night at home in Game 3, sayings and emotion just won't carry the day.

The Penguins toyed with the Flyers, jumped into an early 2-0 lead and then just played a patient trap, one guy in on the forecheck, three on the blue line, one behind them in the center to throw the puck back.

The Flyers, desperate to find something that would counter, just played right into it and turned the puck over and over and over.

It was just such a mistake that salted the game away for Pittsburgh in the third period.

Steve Downie, back in the lineup on the faith of his coach John Stevens that he had learned his lesson after giving the puck up on the winning goal Sunday, gave it up again last night and started the rush that would put the series out of reach, save some season-ending cliches.

Ryan Malone finished a flurry of chances at 9 minutes, 58 seconds of the third period and put Pittsburgh up 3-1, enough to make their version of the trap become bigger than life for the Flyers.

"It's exactly what it is, it's a trap," said Stevens. "They executed very well. They pounced on turnovers. They're very committed to the checking game right now. They're creating all their offense from the checking side of the puck, and they're doing it very well.

"You know, our puck-support execution is just, it's not where it needs to be, and I think you have to give them some credit for it. They're checking us into turnovers. We're not executing with the pressure that we're receiving, and they're feasting on the turnovers."

And the series.

So now, with no room for mistakes and only one game away from the end of the season, the Flyers have to devise a very good plan.

There is not much chance that they will come back on this Pittsburgh team, no matter how much emotion they can muster.

And history is not on their side. Only two teams in the history of the NHL have come back from a 3-0 deficit: the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders.

But give Hartnell credit for trying to find a way to rally his team and saying that he is not ready to concede.

"There's no quitters, and yes we do care," he said. "It's frustrating to me that they've already picked the final, it's going to be Detroit and Pittsburgh, even before the series started.

"That's what ticks me off and gets our blood boiling a little bit. We just have to go out there and play like we've got something to prove."

But they will have to start finding ways to get behind the Pittsburgh defenders before their forwards can get the lead.

That was the case last night.

It was the one thing the Flyers could not afford to do in the first period and they did, falling behind by two goals.

The first was a lucky deflection of a Ryan Whitney shot that went behind Marty Biron off of Jason Smith's skate during the Penguins' first power play of the game.

The second was a 46-foot shot by Marian Hossa that he snapped through Lasse Kukkonen's legs and into the corner of the net, giving Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead.

The officials called a series of penalties in a span of about 2 minutes that ended with the Flyers on the power play.

The man advantage had just expired but the Flyers were in the zone and hugging the front of the net, and Vaclav Prospal took the puck behind and tried to stuff it but hit the post.

The puck came through traffic and out front where R.J. Umberger was able to snap it behind Marc-Andre Fleury and cut the lead by one.

The score sheet wouldn't show that the Flyers had anything going in the second period by the three total shots. By they were much better on both ends and had some good chances.

So did Pittsburgh, which had nine shots on net.

The Penguins played a one-man forecheck through most of the third period and waited until someone made a mistake and jumped on it.

That someone was Downie, who tried a cross-ice pass in the offensive zone that was picked off by Evgeni Malkin and taken up ice. There was a flurry of chances out front until Malone buried his backhanded chance and gave Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead.

"I was trying to make a play," Downie said. "We were down a goal and I was trying to make a play. I had the puck, I saw a guy coming in and I tried to feed it to him and they went down and scored."

Hossa added an open-net goal for his second of the night but it didn't mean much.

The only thing that will matter will be playing well enough to win.

"They're fueling their game off of our turnovers at the blue line," said Umberger. "They're attacking with speed all the time. We did a pretty good job in zone, but everything in the last couple of games that they've scored has been off turnovers." *