On the off day between Games 1 and 2 in Pittsburgh, Flyers center Danny Briere was asked about taking just one shot the night before. Briere bristled a bit at the implication that a lack of shots meant a lack of production.

"You don't want to shoot the puck just to shoot the puck," Briere said. "I'm the type of player that I'm going to shoot the puck when I have a good chance to score. . . . You know, if I get in the slot and I have a good chance to shoot it, I'll shoot it. But I won't take useless shots from the outside just to pad my stats or make them look good."

Granted, Briere knows a lot more about scoring in the NHL than most of us. But that quote came to mind last night as the Flyers made a spirited case for getting the puck on net in a 4-2 victory over the Penguins.

Joffrey Lupul offered Exhibit A, a rocket of a slapshot from along the right boards, above the face-off circle. The puck caught the stick of Penguins defenseman Hal Gill and soared over the shoulder of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Exhibit B featured Briere himself. On a power play, R.J. Umberger took a shot from high in the slot. Fleury waved his glove at the rebound, but the puck bounced out in front of him. Briere, who had been by the side of the net, burrowed through Gill and Rob Scuderi, dived to the ice, and swatted the puck past Fleury. Pure effort produced Briere's first goal of this series.

Another power play led to Exhibit C. Randy Jones took a big shot from the point. Jeff Carter gathered in the rebound and stuffed it into the net.

Flyers C - sorry, Flyers 3, Penguins 0. The Flyers scored three goals on 17 shots in the first period - more goals than they'd scored in any of the first three games of this series.

"Our power play started shooting the puck again," coach John Stevens said. "We were trying to pass the puck into the net. They're a very good penalty-killing team. Sometimes you don't score on the first shot, but you create secondary chances at the net."

To be sure, they did more than fire pucks wildly at Fleury. For the first time in this series, the Flyers were able to handle the puck inside the offensive zone. They played with a bounce that had been smothered out of them by Pittsburgh's defensive trap in Games 1, 2 and 3.

"We did a couple of things differently," Stevens said. "We didn't just get pucks through the neutral zone; we had speed after the puck."

But shooting the puck didn't hurt. Think back to Game 3. The Pens took a 2-0 lead in the first period on a pass that bounced off Jason Smith and a 40-foot wrist shot by Marian Hossa. Two goals off mediocre chances, and the Penguins never looked back.

The Pens were revived last night when Jordan Staal flipped a puck from behind the net, bounced it off Marty Biron's pad, and scored.

Shoot the puck and you never know what will happen.

The Flyers may wind up looking at Game 3 and kicking themselves for the squandered opportunity to assert themselves. They forced a Game 5, which beats the alternative, but they have to win Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh to make this a legitimate series.

While the Flyers most assuredly played their best game of the conference finals, it is also true that the Penguins did not have nearly the motivation to win this one. They showed up and played hard - as that white-knuckle third period proved - but the urgency just wasn't the same. Again, that will be meaningful only if the Flyers make them pay by winning Game 5.

There were tangible signs that the Flyers have a chance to extend this thing. They did not make nearly the number of careless turnovers that killed them over and over again. And Stevens, rebounding from the unfortunate Steve Downie episode, has to get credit for mixing up his lines. It's what coaches do to get a spark. This time, it worked perfectly.

Moving Mike Richards to Briere's line led to a scoring chance for Scott Hartnell on their first shift. Vinny Prospal, invisible for the first three games, reappeared at the center of a new line with a fresh set of legs.

"I thought the two lines that moved around had a lot of jump," Briere said.

"They showed a big commitment for the team," Stevens said of Briere (who moved to wing), Richards and Prospal. "They sacrificed their own games."

Most of all, they shot the puck. Because they did, the Flyers have a shot to make this a series.

Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/philsheridan.