Penguins captain Sidney Crosby yesterday was asked to name one or two Philadelphia Flyers his team most had to worry about stopping during the Eastern Conference final that starts tonight at Mellon Arena.

He didn't really want to point at anyone specifically, but a name popped out of his mouth.

"If we go on this year, I would say [R.J.] Umberger and the way he's playing right now," Crosby said.

And who could blame him?

Going into this playoff series, Umberger presents a double whammy.

First, the Plum native had six goals and 11 points in the eight 2007-08 regular-season meetings between the teams and has eight goals, 18 points in 23 career games against the Penguins.

"More than anything, it's the amount of emotion you have inside," Umberger said of playing against the Penguins, a team he grew up watching and rooting for, particularly Hall of Fame center and now team owner Mario Lemieux.

"The conference final now, I can just imagine it's probably going to be one of the most intense times of my life."

The other thing that makes Umberger dangerous right now is that he didn't exactly store up some offensive output in anticipation of unleashing it in the event he got to play against his hometown team this round.

The Penguins will be facing a center who left tire marks on Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens, collecting eight goals, including two winners, in the Flyers' five-game series win in the second round.

"Eight goals in the playoffs altogether is pretty good," said Penguins winger Ryan Malone, whose support of fellow Western Pennsylvanian natives goes only so far in this situation.

"That's good to see, but, hopefully, it stops here."

Malone, 28, of Upper St. Clair, didn't really know Umberger, who turned 26 Saturday, when they were younger -- although they were aware of each other given that is it relatively rare and used to be unheard of for local players to get drafted -- but all the Penguins certainly are aware of him now.

"R.J. is a fast skater, a strong kid, and he's one of many guys that can score," said Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney, who played with Umberger on the American squad at the World Junior Championships six years ago but figures he has a better idea about the 6-foot-2, 200-pounder from NHL games between the cross-state rivals.

Umberger might have had a chance to play for, instead of against, the Penguins.

He was a first-round draft pick by Vancouver, 16th overall, in 2001. After three seasons at Ohio State and with Team USA, he couldn't reach a deal with the Canucks and sat out the 2003-04 season.

"It was hard to not be playing," Umberger said. "My whole life, that's all I wanted to do, is play. It was the worst thing."

The next summer, he talked with the Penguins and the Flyers, but went with Philadelphia's better offer -- believed to be about $100,000 more -- and signed as a free agent.

Since then, Umberger's family has converted.

Rick Umberger figures he'll change his attire -- but certainly not his allegiance -- when he heads to Mellon Arena tonight for Game 1.

The past couple times he went to watch his son, he wore a Flyers sweatshirt and took a manageable amount of grief from the fans.

Now that it's the fever-pitch playoffs, he will switch to a Flyers No. 20 jersey that bears the last name he passed along to R.J.

"It's probably safer if you wear an Umberger jersey. They kind of figure it out," Rick Umberger said.

Kind of like the way R.J. Umberger seems to have figured out NHL hockey, and, specifically, how to be successful against his hometown team.

Growing up, there was not much precedent to suggest Umberger would be one of the NHL players on the ice at the arena where he watched and idolized Lemieux and celebrated with everyone else around here when the Penguins won two Stanley Cups.

That didn't stop him.

"I never discouraged him," Rick Umberger said.

"I always put him against the best talent he could play against.

"He heard it from so many people that you'll never make it. He heard it all the time. He never heard it from us."

Good thing for R.J. Umberger he didn't listen. Now, he's certain to make the Penguins keep watch.