PHILADELPHIA -- Now all that talk about discipline makes sense. We thought the Flyers were saying they needed more of it. Turns out they were going to deliver some to the Penguins.

The Flyers said they had to cut back on penalties to give themselves a chance to win. Then they went out and committed 11 and won anyway.

Yes, things got ugly yesterday during Game 3 at the Wachovia Center, but the outcome looked awfully pretty to the Flyers. Their 6-3 win gave them a chance to hold serve at home and also sent a message that the NHL office can't fine or suspend anyone for.

Actually, if there are fines or suspensions handed out today, the Penguins should be on the conference call with Colin Campbell. Chris Kunitz delivered a cheap-shot elbow to Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen in the first period and Max Talbot brandished his stick like a tomahawk, chopping down on Timonen after a second-period whistle.

There is a widespread perception that the league favors the Penguins and their marquee players, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin -- much as we suspected NBA officials of helping Magic Johnson and then Michael Jordan along in the playoffs. Timonen said Saturday that he felt the referees treat the Penguins differently during games.

The NHL can help itself by seeing cheap shots by the Penguins with the same clear vision as Dan Carcillo's suspension-worthy, "message" cheap shot on Talbot in Game 1.

Are the Penguins targeting Timonen, the Flyers' best defenseman?

Is the ice cold?

"Sure, sure," Flyers coach John Stevens said in response to the first question. Timonen "is a great player. He plays against their top guys a lot."

Stevens said he originally thought Kunitz "left his feet. I'm not sure if he left his feet or he just went in the air when he went through the hit. It was odd. There was nothing being called early, it was just old-time hockey, and as the game progressed, everything was being called."

Timonen, for his part, stuck with the hockey code that says you don't address these things in interviews. You deal with them on the ice.

"It's playoff hockey," Timonen said. "I was in a bad position. I saw him coming. There wasn't anything I could do about it."

Here's where you get into a strange area when it comes to ice hockey, especially during the playoffs. After criticizing the Flyers for taking stupid penalties in Games 1 and 2 in Pittsburgh, it may seem inconsistent or even hypocritical not to come down on them for all the nasty business in Game 3.

But there is a difference, and it isn't that they won Game 3. The Flyers were physical and at times brutal in this game. But so were the Penguins. This is the kind of back-and-forth that defines a great playoff series.

It's a hockey thing. It's the difference between Scott Hartnell getting three penalties in Game 1 and going after Kunitz in retaliation for the Timonen hit.

Darroll Powe's face explained this better than words could. The rookie has a Princeton education. He also had a gash on his nose, red blotches across his cheeks and a painful-looking lower lip that was swollen enough to affect his speech. And he couldn't have been happier.

Powe took another questionable elbow, this one from Jordan Staal, along the boards. As he started to react, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang skated in to protect his teammate. So Powe and Letang fought. While they were going at it, Flyers rookie Claude Giroux got into an even more intense bout with Tyler Kennedy.

Later, Powe got into it with His Majesty, Crosby.

"We had a little chat," Powe said. "It's fun out there. I'm enjoying it."

While that was going on, Flyers captain Mike Richards reached in and gave Crosby a free spa treatment, exfoliating some facial skin with the leather of his glove.

It was the kind of game that got you thinking they should move Game 4 to the Blue Horizon. But it was also a game with breathtakingly elegant hockey plays. And the Flyers got the better of those, too.

Jeff Carter stormed through the slot, made a silky smooth switch to his backhand, and flipped the Flyers' first shot into the net. Giroux took a perfect pass from Danny Briere to score the game's most important goal. It gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead after they'd blown their original two-goal lead.

Then Giroux did a Peter Forsberg impression, skating around with the puck on the penalty kill before feathering a pass through traffic that practically shot itself off Simon Gagne's stick for a goal.

The Flyers won ugly and won pretty. Unfortunately for them, it only counts as one game.