PHILADELPHIA -- For just the second time this postseason, the Penguins lost a game.

This time, they missed a chance to sweep the Philadelphia Flyers, falling, 4-2, tonight at the Wachovia Center in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final.

The Penguins have a 3-1 lead in the series and are 11-2 in the playoffs. Their next chance to eliminate the Flyers and advance to the Stanley Cup final is Sunday afternoon at Mellon Arena.

After the Penguins fell behind, 3-0, Jordan Staal scored twice in the third period to bring them to within 3-2.

After a furious opening several minutes at both ends, Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead at 8:27 of the first period on Joffrey Lupul's shot from above the right circle that handcuffed Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Flyers upped that to 3-0 before the first intermission with power-play goals by Daniel Briere in front at 11:48 and by Jeff Carter on a backhander at 18:50.

There was no scoring in the second period.

Staal whacked at the puck to push it past Philadelphia goaltender Martin Biron at 3:16 of the third period to pull the Penguins to within 3-1.

He struck again at 14:11 when, from the left circle, he one-timed Tyler Kennedy's pass into the near side past Biron.

But the Penguins couldn't tie it, and Lupul added an empty-net goal.