The Flyers need to create time and space for their best players, especially Danny Briere's line. They have to deny time and space to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Pittsburgh Penguins' stars. The Flyers' theory of hockey relativity - E=mc2 - stands for Energy equals Malkin/Crosby to the second power.

Of course, all this time/space continuum chatter is just modern coachspeak that means, We have to hit their guys before they can move with the puck.

The Flyers took to the ice for a full practice yesterday, a change from their previous playoff routine. Coach John Stevens didn't like the way his team played in Game 1 and decided ice time was better than empty space in the middle of the day.

"Every man playing [Friday night] needs to play better," Stevens said.

"We played our worst game of the playoffs," forward Scott Hartnell said, and it was tough to argue with him.

The question that the rest of the series will answer is whether that was the Flyers' doing or whether the Penguins are just that much better than they are. Superior teams make you look bad. Going into tonight's Game 2, the Flyers choose to believe it was their effort, not the Penguins' excellence.

"They think they did all this magical stuff to get the win," Hartnell said. "We gave them the first couple of goals."

And the second couple - which Malkin scored due to mistakes, not magic. Malkin is a terrific player, no doubt about it, and his two goals looked pretty on the highlight shows.

But the first was created when Scottie Upshall got careless with the puck as time wound down in the first period. Defenseman Ryan Whitney fired the puck to Malkin at the Flyers' blueline, setting up an unchecked rush toward goalie Marty Biron. Malkin's perfectly placed wrist shot proved to be the game-winner.

Malkin's second goal was even more demoralizing for the Flyers. That sequence also started with a careless play, this one a Randy Jones pass as the Flyers tried to set up their power play. The turnover set up a Pittsburgh rush that ended with Mike Richards pounding Malkin into the boards. The puck came back the other way, was turned over again, and passed back to Malkin.

This time, he was lurking by the Flyers blue line because he simply couldn't get back on defense quickly enough.

"That was kind of weird because of how the play happened," Briere said. "Malkin was kind of cheating, not coming back in the zone, and he gets rewarded for it."

Don't hit Malkin and he gets loose and scores. Hit him and he wanders into a breakaway and scores. That makes for a tough guy to defend.

The Flyers' only possible approach is to keep hitting. There were a lot of big checks in Game 1 - the Flyers were on the receiving end of a bunch of them, but they delivered a few as well - but there wasn't the kind of grinding pressure on the puck that slows down players like Malkin, Crosby and Marian Hossa.

They had, in other words, too much time and too much space.

It was notable that Stevens chose to scratch Riley Cote and Steve Downie, two of his more physical players, for Game 1. The message was clear. The Flyers are going to have to beat the Penguins with skill and toughness, not by fighting them. Downie was skating in place of Patrick Thoresen on the Flyers' fourth line at practice, but Stevens wouldn't say for sure that he planned to dress the feisty rookie tonight.

Either way, the Flyers are going to have to push the envelope a little further when it comes to the physical play. That doesn't mean cheap shots or fighting, but it does mean making the Penguins "pay the price" - another popular euphemism - for skating free in the Flyers zone.

"They're 9-1 in the playoffs," Stevens said. "It's up to us to create some adversity for them."

The Flyers lost Game 1 and then came back to win Game 2 in each of their first two series. They have to duplicate that feat, against a team that hasn't lost a playoff game at home yet, or face a very grim prognosis indeed. The Flyers' best chance is to play a tougher game without crossing the line into stupid penalties.

"We have guys here who can throw down if we have to," Hartnell said. "Between the whistles, we're going to have to take care of business. You just have to keep giving it to them."

He did not mean time and space.

Phil Sheridan:

NHL Eastern Conference Finals

Flyers at Penguins

Penguins lead series, 1-0

Inside

Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury proved a tall order in opener. E4.