Flyers are playing mind games when what they need is to win a hockey game

Reporting from Philadelphia -- Unable to beat the Chicago Blackhawks with a run-and-gun style in the opener of the Stanley Cup finals and held to a goal in losing a tautly played Game 2, the Philadelphia Flyers have switched strategies for Game 3 Wednesday at the Wachovia Center.

They’re resorting to mind games, apparently hoping verbal jabs will accomplish what they couldn’t achieve otherwise in Chicago.

Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger set the tone when he snatched the puck at the end of the first two games. Someone on the winning team usually scoops up the puck so it can be presented to a player who excelled or displayed in the locker room as a memento of their Cup journey. Pronger’s antics, while far from the worst things he has ever done, robbed someone of a meaningful souvenir.

Chicago forward Ben Eager tried to grab the puck Monday but was blocked by Pronger. They yapped at each other and Pronger used his stick to fling a giveaway rally towel at Eager. Pronger later said he tossed the pucks in the garbage.

“He seems in his element right now,” Flyers forward Danny Briere said Tuesday. “He seems to be disturbing a lot of people around. And we’re a team that disturbs a lot of people. I guess he fits right in.”

What’s most disturbing is that Pronger and the Flyers don’t have to stoop to that kind of behavior. Unless they’re feeling desperate, sensing their Cup hopes slipping away. Yes, they rallied from an 0-3 deficit to upset Boston in the second round, but the Blackhawks aren’t the fading, offense-challenged team the Bruins were.

Pronger’s eight career suspensions — including two during the 2007 playoffs while he played for the Ducks — hint at his lack of impulse control. But his latest moves seem calculated, intended to distract from the Flyers’ larger problems of not getting anything from their formidable first line and with nothing to show for having blanked the Blackhawks’ own potent first line.

Nor did it seem a coincidence that Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette, who usually chooses his words carefully, suggested Blackhawks goaltender Antti Niemi could be intimidated.

“He’s a rookie goaltender playing in the Stanley Cup finals. We have to get on the board here and put a little bit of doubt there,” Laviolette said.

“Our team is capable of scoring a lot of goals, put a lot of pressure on him. It’s a tough position, goaltending. He’s representing a city that hasn’t won a Cup in 50 years. We have to give him a crack of doubt. We can do that [Wednesday] night.”

The Blackhawks brushed off the notion that Niemi might be vulnerable to nerves.

“He’s pretty calm, cool and collected. He doesn’t let much bother him, at least nothing that we can see,” defenseman Brent Seabrook said. “He’s pretty quiet in the room. He does his own thing and makes big saves.

“He’s been huge for us all year, and teams have tried to get at him and get traffic and bump him a little bit. You know, he’s really answered the bell. I don’t think he lets that stuff get to him. He just continues to play his game, which has been great for us.”

Goaltenders can be high-strung, Chicago Coach Joel Quenneville said, but not Niemi.

“Antti is as laid-back as I’ve ever met or seen, and I think his disposition enables him just to move on to the next situation and the next challenge and the next puck,” Quenneville said.

For the Blackhawks the next challenge is to get something out of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Their secondary scoring has been strong, and if Marian Hossa can get on a roll after potting a rebound in Game 2 to end a personal eight-game goal famine in the finals they will be in fine shape.

The challenge for the Flyers is tougher, though a 7-1 home playoff record says they have drawn strength from their fervent fans. They need even-strength scoring from their first line — Mike Richards and Jeff Carter earned assists Monday but on a power-play goal by Simon Gagne — and must avoid getting hurt when they have to rest their top four defensemen and send out their third defense pair.

It’s time for them to put up. Or shut up.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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