It was just as well because it likely would not have made it into print.

But he left little doubt that he endures more hostility at the Wachovia Center than at any other venue. Let's just assume that the booing he gets each time he takes the puck is background music compared to the taunting he hears from the leather lungs within shouting distance of the Pittsburgh bench.

"Yeah, I would say it's a pretty tough place to play," Crosby said yesterday before the Penguins departed for tonight's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals at the Wachovia Center.

"But at the same time, it makes for a great atmosphere in the playoffs," he said. "The worst thing? I can't really name one thing. They're just a tough crowd. They're not afraid to say anything. They're a very vocal group."

The Flyers' crowd gets on Crosby's case partly because he has been portrayed as a diver and a whiner by some of the Flyers, and by some in the local media.

Much of it stems from an incident in his first game in Philadelphia in which defenseman Derian Hatcher bloodied Crosby's mouth and did some unwanted dental work with a high stick. No penalty was called, but Crosby was persistent in letting the referees know what he thought of their judgment.

Since then, Crosby has gotten more than his measure of revenge, turning the Wachovia Center into his personal playground. He has more goals (16), assists (21) and points (37) in the building than in any other road arena. And that's in only 20 games.

Crosby had a goal and an assist in Sunday night's 4-2 Pittsburgh win.

Last season, when the Flyers were the league's doormat, the Penguins won all four games at the Wachovia Center. But that was an aberration.

This season, for example, the Flyers bested the Pens in all four games, outscoring them by 19-7. Bring this to the attention of the Penguins as they try to take a three-games-to-none grip on the series and their response is basically, "Yeah, and what's your point?"

"The playoffs are a different game," rugged winger Georges Laraque said. "We know what we have to do. We know what's at stake. It doesn't matter what's happened in the past. People said we couldn't win in New York and we did. Now people say we didn't win in Philly and we're going to have to do it."

The Pens were 0-3-1 at Madison Square Garden but won Game 3 against the Rangers there.

"In the playoffs it really doesn't matter where you play," winger Jarkko Ruutu said, adding that, "you'd rather be in front of your home crowd, but . . ."

The Penguins are telling themselves that they're excited about playing at the Wachovia Center, that they're not worried about the crowd. It's the Flyers they must defeat, not the crowd and not Kate Smith.

"We don't play against the crowd," Laraque said. "We play against the Flyers. The crowd has never scored a goal or won a fight. The crowd has never done anything. They're going to be loud. We like when it's loud. It was loud in New York. It will be loud in Philly.

"But again, the game is played on the ice, and we're looking forward to it."