After making life miserable for the opposing goalies in the first two rounds, the Flyers seemed to treat the Penguins' crease as if it were being guarded by Martha Stewart watering petunias.

Until last night.

In the crucial first period of their 4-2 win, especially, the Flyers put shots on net, set up screens and made life much more difficult for goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Joffrey Lupul scored off a defenseman's stick. Danny Briere and Jeff Carter scored off scrums.

For a second there, it looked like the Montreal series.

"We just came out a little flat," said Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik. "They had that extra jump that we couldn't find until we were down by three goals. I thought we outplayed them most of the second and third period, we just dug ourselves a big hole there."

Lupul's goal gave the Flyers their first lead since the first period of Game 1. Briere's goal came off a fat rebound from a Randy Jones shot. Carter's goal also resulted from traffic in front. These were things that were not happening in the series' first three games.

"In the first period they came pretty hard, which is what they usually do," said Fleury, the first overall pick in 2003. "Maybe we weren't ready for them, but we came back and did all right."

The Flyers had 17 shots on goal that initial period and 17 over the last two.

"We knew they weren't going to quit, that they were going to come hard," Fleury said.

Going hard to the net is largely what got the Flyers through the first two rounds. They harassed Washington's Cristobal Huet throughout the seven games of the first round and won the series with an overtime goal off a broken play.

Philadelphia frustrated Montreal in the subsequent series to the point where the Habs yanked wunderkind goalie Carey Price.

But against Pittsburgh, they were unable to get to the net. A big reason was the Penguins were just about always playing with the lead and were able to apply the defensive clamps.

Lupul's first goal changed things; a slap shot that was deflected by defenseman Hal Gill.

"I gotta be a little more aggressive there and tip that out of the rink," Gill explained. "I backed off a little bit. It was a tough break."

Pittsburgh regained its balance during a scoreless second period, and when Jordan Staal scored the second of his two goals with 5 minutes, 49 seconds left in the third, everybody wearing orange and black started squirming.

"Bottom line, we got the win," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "I thought it was a gutsy effort by our team. I'd like to keep it 3-0 when we get it there. But we seem to have a way to make it exciting one way or another."

The Penguins are going home to Mellon Arena for Sunday's Game 5. They are 7-0 there this postseason, still holding a commanding, 3-1 series lead. One more win and they are headed to the Cup finals.

"We're going home and we want to finish it off," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. "We have to play better than we did tonight and give ourselves a better chance. I don't think you go into any series expecting to win four in a row. For sure, we would have liked to have gotten it done. But we're going home and we have a great opportunity." *