Not a Penguin in sight.

As the Flyers struggled Tuesday night on the ice against Pittsburgh in the third game of the NHL Eastern Conference finals, several players' children waged a ferocious hallway rug-hockey round outside the Family Lounge in the Wachovia Center.

All the while, Rachel Fawley kept a watchful eye. She's the owner of Basically Babysitting, a Cherry Hill by-the-hour service that Flyers management has hired to watch the players' children during preseason, regular and now - perhaps most appreciated by the wives - postseason games.

It's the first season the team has offered child care - an increasingly popular benefit for pro athletes, officials say.

"I loved the idea," said Megan Knuble, a mother of three (7, 6 and 3 years old) who heard about the possibility last summer as management surveyed the Flyers' wives. "I had never been on a team that had it." (Her husband, forward Mike Knuble, is on his fourth hockey team.)

Sure, she could try to get a sitter at home. But this way, "it doesn't have to be a big production to come to a game." She, like several other Flyers families who live in South Jersey, had used Basically Babysitting before and suggested that management contract with Fawley.

The children love the activities, she said, and feel the same about Fawley, whom another mother described as a "big kid herself."

"People say [the children's] hockey game is more intense than upstairs," where the fathers play, Knuble said. Son Cam, 7, who stayed for a period, played skillful goalie.

So far, Fawley, along with an assistant or two, has staffed 51 games at $275 each.

Vivacious, with long curly hair, the 35-year-old mother of two will be back tonight for Game 4 against the Penguins. And if things miraculously turn around for the Flyers, down three games to zip in the best-of-seven series, maybe she'll get to referee more rug-hockey matches this season.

"I love the energy at the Wachovia Center," said Fawley, wearing flip-flops and a new Eastern Conference playoffs T-shirt over jeans. "It trickles down to where we are, even though we're not rinkside. . . . And the food's not bad." (Tuesday's menu was crab cakes, mac & cheese, a scrumptious chocolate cake, and orange-and-black frosted cookies.)

Between periods, Flyer parents bring children who are watching the game down to play - and then struggle to get them to come back to the rink.

In one home game against the Montreal Canadiens, Heather Hatcher, wife of defenseman Derian Hatcher and a mother of five, wanted her 9-year-old son, Kelton, to watch the game. He had other designs.

"Sometimes, they get mad when I make them stay up," said Hatcher, who had Hallie, 6, and Shallyn, 12, in tow this day. "It was an exciting game. He'd rather play down here."

The Flyers are one of the more recent pro teams to offer child care during games. The Sixers, who use the same facilities at the Wachovia Center but different sitters, have provided babysitting for about 11 years. The Eagles have a family lounge at Lincoln Financial Field, with toys and games but no sitters.

The Phillies, though, are among the old-timers on the block, having provided on-site child care for more than 20 years, said Gene Dias, director of community relations. "That room [at Citizens Bank Park] is very important to the team," he said.

Back at the Wachovia Center, as the Penguins took the lead in the first period, Jacob Biron, 3, grabbed a hockey stick. His dad is goalie Martin Biron. A precocious Jacob described the old man's job like this: "His work is to make a shutout." (Alas, work didn't go well that day. The Flyers lost, 4-1.)

"We need a ball," Jacob said, his priorities clear.

No plastic puck could be found - coach John Stevens' wife, Stacy Stevens, dug around for one in her purse, but had no luck - so Fawley made one with tape.

"This is something I wish I had when my kids were younger," said Stevens, who has two children, now 11 and 14. "It's not easy to have a kid on your lap and watch the game. This is perfect, especially with the playoff game, where you want to watch."

That's Monica Thoresen's situation, certainly. On Tuesday, she and her husband Patrick, a forward who was not playing in the game, dropped off 17-month-old Fabian and 5-year-old Mathilde before the first period. "I have only two arms," said Monica, who arrived Stateside from Norway only 21/2 months ago. "It makes it very much easier."

Fabian, in a Flyers jersey, cried as his parents walked down the hallway, but Fawley quickly distracted him with the other children's game. Her daughters, Anna, 6, and Erika, 9, had joined the hockey fray. (Hockey has become a family "obsession" since her Flyers gig.)

Inside the lounge, Hallie Hatcher and Mathilde Thoresen colored a giant picture of Cinderella in her orange (of course) pumpkin.

"I like to spend one period down here, the other up there and then down here," said Hallie, a true fan in a Hatcher jersey, Flyers orange-and-black striped socks, and fingernails painted with the Flyers logo. "I like being up there, too. It's cold."

When the Flyers score, the buzzer can be heard downstairs. "We stop whatever we're doing and run in and see who scored," Fawley said.

On Tuesday, that happened only once, with R.J. Umberger tallying. By 10:10 p.m., Fabian Thoresen had fallen asleep on the couch in front of the TV and the Flyers had lost.

But outside the lounge in the hallway, those other Flyers, as always, were still scoring with exuberance.