"We played better in Game 2 than Game 1, but we need to play better to have success against Pittsburgh," Flyers coach John Stevens said yesterday. "Sometimes you have to work hard for your breaks. Things happen in a hockey game you're not always going to agree with; you just have to deal with it.

"That's what we have to get back to. The 'Why not us?' There's a lot more we have to do to be the 'us' we want to be."

For starters, the Flyers need to be more physical.

Also, their lack of discipline resulted in 10 penalties in Game 2. That has to change.

They can be proud of their defense, which survived with five players in Game 2 after Braydon Coburn was hit in the face with the puck early in the first period. He is listed as doubtful for tonight's game.

Stevens said he needed more from his offense.

"We capable of getting more from our forward group," he said. "It's been our strength all year. . . . We need more composure and urgency from our forwards."

Danny Briere's line with Vinny Prospal and Scott Hartnell is minus-7 with no points through two games. Of the four goals the Flyers have scored, Mike Richards has three and Jeff Carter one. Obviously, the Flyers need more contributions.

They came into the series with 43 goals and the most balanced scoring of any club in the playoffs. But the Flyers have to get the puck before they can score.

That has been a problem. The Penguins have controlled the puck for most of the time.

"We talked this morning about Games 1 and 2 being like night and day with more support around the ice," Richards said. "Just managing the puck better. It's not always about possession, it's about putting them in the right areas where we can get it back.

"If we get the puck deep in the corners and keep it away from [goalie Marc-Andre] Fleury, where he can't play it, that's going to turn into a lot of cycle shifts, and in turn we'll get a lot more possession time."

Flyers goalie Marty Biron was often sensational in the previous two series. He likely needs to do what he did in the second-round conquest of Montreal - steal a couple of games. Biron has faced some difficult moments against the Penguins, who pass the puck around, playing keep-away, and then get high-percentage shots.

The controversial disallowed goal at the end of the opening period of Game 2 came in a four-on-four situation. The Penguins were so dazzling in moving the puck, they appeared to be on the power play. That's the kind of puck possession that will ultimately doom the Flyers if they allow it to continue.

"When things get going around a bit, they have some really offensive defensemen that, four-on-four, are basically forwards out there," Biron said.

The goalie said that defenseman Sergei Gonchar "should be at the blue line, and he's doing an interchange with the forward and they're changing positions. It's really tough to stick to the [defensive] coverage. . . . Four-on-four is tricky. They really have the skill set to make you look bad at times."

That might be an understatement. The point is, the Flyers have to establish more ownership of the puck. And they need a more physical presence.

"We have to play with a little more urgency," Biron said.

The series is not over, but it has the potential to be done soon if the Flyers don't come out with that urgency tonight.

"I don't think we're being outplayed," Richards said. "You have to earn your bounces and work for them. We were getting bounces in the Montreal series, and Pittsburgh is getting some now. Work ethic. If we keep working at it, those will turn around and go in our favor."

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