Concern has again enveloped the growing legion of ice hockey fans who have embraced the Flyers during this most unexpected roller-coaster ride through the NHL playoffs.

While the city of Philadelphia -  with its fatalistic attitude toward its sports teams - is worried as the Flyers return following a pair of road losses to the Chicago Blackhawks, there seems to be no reason to panic.

After all, this team has been down and nearly all the way out several times along the way and still managed to survive and advance. And Games 3 and 4 will be played on Wednesday and Friday in Philadelphia, where the Flyers have a 7-1 win-loss record in these playoffs.

That's one of the only stats currently in the Flyers' favor.

"We're glad that we're back home now," forward Simon Gagne said. "Sure, we're not really happy the way things went in Chicago. We're down 2-0.

"We've been there before. We've been down 2-0, even 3-0.

So it's not like it's a new situation for us."  The Flyers are used to do-or-die pressure. At least outwardly, they show no signs of fear even though only two of 33 teams to lose the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals on the road have rallied to capture the championship. Chicago is also 7-1 away from home in the playoffs.

"The Blackhawks did what they were supposed to do and they defended home ice," defenseman Chris Pronger said.

"Now it's up to us to do the same thing.

"Although many of you folk might not give us much of a chance, we're not too worried about what you guys think.

We're worried about what we think in the locker room. We think we can win."  The Blackhawks lost the Stanley Cup in 1971 against Montreal after grabbing a 2-0 lead at home. Last year, Pittsburgh recovered from 2-0 and 3-2 down to claim the Cup in a rematch with Detroit.

Before the Flyers could even dream about reaching the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1997, they had to do away with the rival New York Rangers on the final weekend of the regular season. The playoff match went to overtime and then to a shootout. Brian Boucher made the season-saving save and got the Flyers into the playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The sigh of relief that followed was hardly just for that day. It was the release of a season full of angst and frustration that featured a coaching change from John Stevens to Peter Laviolette and a recovery from a drop to 14th place in the 15-team conference.

They weren't expected to last long in the playoffs.

Undeterred against the second-seeded New Jersey Devils, who owned a star-laden roster, the now-relaxed Flyers ran through them in five games. Then they rallied against the Boston Bruins after losing the first three games, winning Game 7 in Boston, and becoming only the third team in playoffs history to recover from 3-0 down.

No rally was needed in the Eastern Conference finals for the Flyers, who took out Montreal in five games.

Returning home for the Stanley Cup, Philadelphia can be bolstered by the fact it lost a pair of one-goal decisions that could have gone either way in Chicago - 6-5 and 2-1 - and didn't play poorly.

"We did a great job against Boston, just focusing on the one-game-at-a-time mentality and not look forward at the big picture," captain Mike Richards said. «Not too many people have done it, but not too many people have come back from 0-3, either.

"We're obviously a confident group. It's a situation that's familiar with us. It's unfortunate that we're in the situation, but ... we have to play the cards we're dealt right now and move on."