The Pittsburgh Penguins answered it just once.

"Why not us?"

Because the Penguins are better.

The Flyers' season is not over, of course. But after falling behind three games to none, the outcome of this best-of-seven series is no longer in doubt. Miracles happen. Four miracles in a row do not, at least not against these Penguins.

While that reality is surely disappointing to Philadelphians hungry for a championship, the truth is this team gave its fans a better run than anyone had a right to expect. Whether that run lasts one or two or even three more games, it should be appreciated for what it was and not criticized for what it was not.

The Flyers made it to the NHL's final four by coming together as a team, by outworking and outhustling Washington and Montreal, by unforgettable performances from Marty Biron, Danny Briere, Mike Richards, Kimmo Timonen and R.J. Umberger.

That hustling, resilient team has been missing in action for much of the three games against Pittsburgh.

"We didn't get pucks deep and win those battles the way we did in the first two rounds," forward Scottie Upshall said. "Give them credit. They outplayed us. They're playing a complete game."

The Penguins have been the team winning individual puck battles, getting to loose pucks faster and delivering the bigger hits - all things the Flyers had to do to have a chance against a team this highly skilled.

It was going to be hard to beat the Penguins under the best of circumstances. These were not the best of circumstances.

The sudden loss of Timonen and his defensive partner, Braydon Coburn, were major blows. But the reality is that the Flyers forwards have been a bigger problem in these three losses than the patchwork defensive corps.

"The defense has played well," R.J. Umberger said. "It's us forwards, we need to do better. We need to get [the puck] and go. We keep giving it back to them."

It was center Jeff Carter who got turned around at the Flyers' blue line, allowing Marian Hossa to back Lasse Kukkonen up and fire a wrist shot past Biron. And while it was the kind of save Biron must make in a big game - the kind of save he made routinely against Montreal and Washington - it was possible because the players in front let Hossa skate in unmolested.

It was winger Steve Downie who committed a bad turnover that led to the Pens' third goal for the second consecutive game. Downie was surrounded by white jerseys when he tried to thread a cross-ice pass to a teammate. Bad idea. Evgeni Malkin intercepted and started the rush that led to Ryan Malone's goal.

Those are the specific plays, the trees that make up the forest. But the wider view of the whole picture is this: These Flyers are a good team that played over its head for two scintillating rounds. They have now simply run into a better team, one that has a handle on whatever pressure it might be feeling as a favorite.

"They're on a roll," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "You can just see it. They're playing with a lot of confidence right now. They've won a lot of games in the playoffs. They're doing things with the puck that they weren't doing earlier in the series. . . . You know, we're getting outplayed right now, and we've got to dig in."

This series feels a little like the 1992 Eagles' playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys. You knew going in that the division rivals were young and talented. It wasn't until Dallas blew the Eagles away that you realized just how good they'd become, and how fast. That Dallas team went on to win three Super Bowls.

It's that much more painful to learn all this over a best-of-seven series. The Penguins are 11-1 in the postseason. They are very, very good.

The difference, of course, is that these Flyers are not at the end of a cycle, as those Eagles were. These Flyers are just coming together, too. This team is a work in progress, and everyone knew that going in. What you learn in a series like this is just how much progress has been made and, more emphatically, how much work remains to be done.

"Why not us?"

Well, because it is too big a leap from the bottom of the NHL, where the Flyers were last year, to the Stanley Cup. The leap from the bottom of the league to the final four is remarkable enough.

For the Flyers and their fans, that will have to be enough. For now.

for columnist Phil Sheridan at http://forums.philly.com/

phil_sheridan. Or by e-mail: psheridan@phillynews.com.