"Two nights after Flyers captain Mike Richards challenged his teammates to play with more heart, they did.

Just not enough to beat the ultra-talented Pittsburgh Penguins.

Shootout goals by Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby proved to be the difference for the Penguins, who followed their blowout win against the Flyers Tuesday night with a 3-2 victory in front of a sellout crowd at the Wachovia Center.

The Flyers picked up just their fifth point in eight games under coach Peter Laviolette and have now lost 12 of their last 15 games.

"It's difficult to stand up here and say it was great,'Laviolette said. "It's a loss and we left a point behind. When you're trying to play a certain style, it doesn't happen overnight. Tonight was another step and we need to build on it from here."

As well as the Flyers played Thursday night, the true test of their progress under Laviolette will come Saturday afternoon when the struggling New York Rangers visit the Center.

"We did a lot of good things but it will be interesting to see if we can keep it going Saturday and not go up and down like we have in the past," Richards said. "We're going to have success if we play like this each and every night, it's just doing it consistently. Obviously, we haven't done it lately."

While the Flyers made some steps in the right direction in their rematch against the Penguins -- getting goals from Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux -- they also reverted to some of their old, undisciplined ways.

"We took penalties tonight that we had no need and had no business taking and that can end up costing points," Laviolette said."