Games on back-to-back nights summed up how the Phantoms season has gone so far.

Last Friday, they were all-in, scorching Portland goalie Mike McKenna with 46 shots and looking like a team truly battling for the final playoff spot in the conference. The following night, the Phantoms looked lazy and disinterested against the Utica Comets. Both games resulted in losses, but the effort was the key difference.All season long, the Phantoms have been on a roller coaster of ups and downs. Just when it looks like they're ready to be buried, they rally with one last gasp and fight on. Then, just as quickly, they put one foot back into the playoff grave.First-year coach Scott Gordon has no explanation for the ups and downs."When it's all said and done, we control the first six minutes of the game, and then after that, they scored and it was all downhill from there," said Gordon, offering a concise summary of his team's 5-2 loss to Utica.Forward Danick Martel couldn't explain why the team couldn't repeat their play from Friday night, but admitted that the effort simply wasn't the same."We tried so hard yesterday and we should have come [into] this game the same way that we did yesterday," said Martel. "The effort tonight was not there."Part of the problem in that loss was having a rusty Anthony Stolarz in goal to start the game. Stolarz was with the Flyers for nine days, but didn't see any game action. And thanks to a busy Flyers schedule last week, he wasn't able to get much practice time with the team while serving as a backup to Steve Mason. The normally reliable Stolarz looked off his game and was pulled in favor of Jason LaBarbera just four minutes into the second period when he allowed the third goal of the night."I was hoping that with a skate on Friday and then a skate today [Saturday], that he'd be ready for tonight," said Gordon. "We know Stolie is a much better goalie than he was tonight."While Lehigh Valley is glad to have Stolarz back, there's no denying that they miss forward Nick Cousins, who is also in Philadelphia. Another blow was struck when the Flyers recalled Andrew MacDonald, a defense man, who got the call just hours before the game against Utica.Defenseman Mark Alt noted the loss of MacDonald as being a blow to the team, but his coach wasn't accepting any excuses for how the team played on Saturday."It doesn't affect the forwards and where they need to be. Defensemen back on the blue line, or back behind the forwards, they have their job, the forwards have their job," said Gordon. "And we had more forwards who didn't do their job tonight in regards to that."PHANTOM FACTS: Lehigh Valley is six points behind Utica for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. With 25 games remaining, they likely have to win somewhere in the neighborhood of 18-20 of their remaining games to make the playoffs ... Cousins recorded his first NHL goal with the Flyers last Thursday on a breakaway slap shot against Buffalo's Robin Lehner ... The Phantoms are off until Friday when they open a three-in-three swing with home games against Springfield and Bridgeport before a trip to Springfield on Sunday.