If their season ends tonight, or Sunday in Pittsburgh, or whenever, it matters how this team plays its final periods of playoff hockey. It matters because that last impression will linger in the minds of these players and their fans.

There is a huge difference between feeling like a young team on the rise and feeling as if the Pittsburgh Penguins took their lunch money.

So it's important that Danny Briere, who has been mauled into ineffectiveness, deliver his best effort of this series tonight.

It's important that Marty Biron, who was so splendid in the first two rounds, get back into that zone again before the off-season is thrust upon the Flyers.

It's important that Mike Richards, in a new pairing with Briere, continue to perform as if his life depends on winning every shift.

It's important that Jeff Carter and Scottie Upshall and Joffrey Lupul and R.J. Umberger wash the bitter taste of the first three losses away by beating the Penguins' stifling trap for at least one night.

It's important that the young defensemen, Ryan Parent and Randy Jones and Lasse Kukkonen, make a strong case for being part of the team's future.

It's important that the Flyers don't resort to desperation by lashing out at the star players who have delivered for the Penguins. A franchise that chafes under its lingering reputation for thuggery can help put all that to rest by playing hard and being physical right up until the end.

And it's important that the nearly 20,000 fans who fill the Wachovia Center tonight show this team some appreciation for the ride it has taken the city on since early April. As the buzzer sounded after Game 5 in Montreal, Canadiens fans gave their team a rousing ovation. They had seen their favored team lose four consecutive games to the underdog Flyers, but they recognized a fine season and thrilling hockey through their disappointment.

This is a young Flyers team that has exceeded expectations and proven it is a few key moves from being a serious contender. These Flyers went further in this postseason than the Penguins did in their playoff baptism, which lasted just five first-round games in April 2007. A year later, the Pens are 11-1 in the postseason, one victory from the Stanley Cup Finals.

They have made it look easier than it is.

"The margin for error is so small, to be honest," Penguins star Sidney Crosby said. "It could be 2-1, it could be completely different. It could be the other way. It's one goal here and there, it's one mistake. . . . It's just who makes the least amount of mistakes or who gets a break."

Every team is different. Every situation is different. Four years ago, the Flyers went to the seventh game of the Eastern Conference finals before losing to Tampa Bay. The Lightning went on to win the Cup that year and looked like a dynasty in the making with young stars in Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier.

The Lightning's record was tied for the worst in the NHL this season.

Only one of those 2004 Flyers, Sami Kapanen, is playing in this series. The general manager is different. The coach is different. The atmosphere around the team is completely different.

There was a lot of talk around the Penguins yesterday about the deadline trades that brought Marian Hossa and Hal Gill to the team. Their general manager, Ray Shero, was looking to complete a contending team around the nucleus of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (all first or second overall draft picks, not incidentally).

Shero went all in, giving up top prospects and picks, and the gamble is paying off.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren acquired Vinny Prospal to replace some of the scoring touch that disappeared when Simon Gagne was injured. It was a more modest move, but Holmgren had different intentions. He wasn't willing to give up a chunk of his team's future for a short-term boost, because he had no reason to think his team was ready to make a run for the Cup.

The moves he'd already made - acquiring Briere, Biron, Upshall, Lupul, Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Scott Hartnell - produced the nucleus that came together in such a sudden and encouraging way over the last six weeks.

This team has given its fans a treat and its general manager something more. Holmgren now knows exactly what he has and what he needs to take that final step toward contending for the Cup.

Taking out Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals was a great first step.

Outhustling and outworking the conference's top-seeded Canadiens was remarkable.

The best way to honor and preserve those achievements is to finish strong against the Penguins, whatever the outcome.