Three games into the Eastern Conference finals, things are looking rather dire for the Flyers. They may have run out of lifelines.

All the magic that had enveloped this team since April began is becoming a mere memory now after the Pittsburgh Penguins pushed the Flyers to the brink of elimination with a 4-1 victory tonight at the Wachovia Center.

Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Co. are just a Thursday victory away from a four-game sweep that would see the Penguins advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1992, when Mario Lemieux carried the team to the Cup over Chicago.

The Flyers trailed by 2-1 going into the third period. At that point, they had a measly eight shots on goal, barely enough to qualify for an offense.

Flyers rookie Steve Downie, who made a costly turnover that became the Penguins' game-winner in Game 2, set up a killer goal midway into the third period when he tried a risky cross-ice pass that was picked off by Malkin.

Malkin came up ice and passed to Petr Sykora, who fired a backhander to Ryan Malone, sitting in the slot and battling for position with Derian Hatcher. Malone turned and fired a backhander through Marty Biron, icing the game at 3-1.

Marian Hossa added an empty-netter and that was it.

Pittsburgh did not dominate the game, but the Flyers failed in several ways. They spent too much time in their own end and they never mounted a sustained offensive attack. They had perhaps four quality chances on rebounds in the entire game.

Michel Therrien's Penguins do not get enough credit for being a sound defensive club that can shut down even the best of offenses. And they've done that in this series to the Flyers.

With Colin Campbell, the NHL's disciplinarian, looking on, the game was naturally overofficiated, with a plethora of borderline calls in the opening period.

Despite an emotional pregame tribute to slain Philadelphia police officer Stephen Liczbinski and another stirring rendition of "God Bless America," the Flyers came out looking awful, giving up two quick goals in less than nine minutes.

Ryan Whitney's first goal of the playoffs made it 1-0 at 5 minutes, 3 seconds. There was not much Marty Biron could do as the defenseman skated from the left circle and fired off Jason Smith's skate, with the puck beating the goalie to the short side.

The second goal was soft, to say the least. Marian Hossa weaved down the slot with the puck and fired from 46 feet through defenseman Lasse Kukkonen's legs. Biron was caught too far out of the net when the puck went inside the right post.

R.J. Umberger cut the deficit to 2-1 at 10:59 by scoring his 10th goal of the playoffs. Vinny Prospal, who had not had a point in four games, tried a wraparound off the right post. The rebound bounced to Umberger cleanly before Marc-Andre Fleury could find it.

Through two periods, the Flyers had taken only eight shots.

Coming into the playoffs and through the opening two rounds, the Flyers had the most balanced scoring attack of any club in the league with seven 20-goal scorers. The diversity of their attack carried them through the grueling seven-game Washington series and the five-game triumph over Montreal.

But the very thing that has been the Flyers' strength, scoring balance, has been their weakness in this series. Only Jeff Carter and Mike Richards seem to be getting scoring chances.

In the second period, Richards escaped for a shorthanded breakaway, but Sergei Gonchar, hustling from behind, made a sweep check on the puck as Richards fell into the net.

Carter had two good scoring attempts on the fly from 10 and 12 feet, but Fleury made good saves.