Things looked very good for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms after they won the first three games of their five-game road trip through the Northeast. They could see their way through the rest of the trip, with a four-game homestand waiting on the other side if they could make it through Hartford and Worcester.

Things change quickly.A 3-2 loss in Hartford, followed by a lackluster performance in a 6-1 blowout in Worcester and suddenly, the five-game trip becomes just another lost opportunity to build some momentum - and points - for a run at a playoff spot. Follow that up with a 2-0 home loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to open the homestand and things go from bright to bleak in less than 72 hours.Everybody knew the road trip, particularly the final part of it, would be a tough stretch of games. Not only are Hartford and Worcester tough teams, but having a five-hour bus trip after the game in Worcester followed by an early start the next day at home was a daunting task."It's been a long three days," said left-winger Taylor Leier after Sunday night's loss to the rival Penguins. "Honestly, it's mental. If you think it's going to be hard or if you keep complaining about it, you're going to be tired, but if you just think it's another day, another game and you come out and get warmed up, it's not that bad; I don't think anyway."The loss leaves the Phantoms almost as close to the bottom of the conference as they are to a playoff spot, which is 10 points away, with just 13 games left to play. One web site gives the Phantoms just a .1-percent of making the playoffs, if they can find a way to pick up 17 points in those 13 games, which would be a huge task.Leier isn't looking at the odds, or even at what other teams are doing. Instead, he says the team can only focus on winning games and hoping for the best."You can't focus on what other teams are doing. It's easy to say 'this team is so many points ahead of us,' or 'we have how many games in-hand over those guys,' but you just have to try to win every game from here on out. We have 13 games left and we need to put in a pretty solid month here to end the season," he said.Against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Phantoms came out looking nothing like a fatigued or beaten down team. They put up five solid shots in the first five minutes of the game, but had nothing to show for it thanks to a strong performance from Penguins goalie Matt Murray, who made 32 saves and recorded his tenth shutout of the season."We played terrific in the first period and did everything we wanted to do. We were high energy, good skating and puck movement and had some good looks in the offensive zone, but didn't score. They came out and took advantage of a couple of turnovers, we had the puck and mismanaged it on the first one and on the second one, we get caught standing at the offensive blue line and it's two-nothing," said coach Terry Murray.The team's slide coincides with the recall of Nick Cousins by the Flyers. Cousins was the Phantoms top scorer and one of the top offensive weapons in the AHL, but was needed in Philadelphia."First of all, we're all really happy for him to get up there. That's what this is all about here, you go through the process of earning the right to play in the NHL and he's done that with point production, so he's deserving of the call up. He means a lot to us, obviously, he's our top point guy and certainly on the power play, he's been very effective, but we're not going to go there, as far as an excuse," said Murray.PHANTOM FACTS: Center Blair Jones served a one-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of an opponent. Murray wasn't happy about the decision. "I don't think it's the right call, I don't think it's good. The referee was out, way behind the play to begin with, so I don't know how he makes the call for a blow to the head. There's no way he had the site lines for that, but that's the way it goes."... Steve Delisle and Austin Fyten are nursing lower body injuries that caused them to both be scratched from Sunday's game against the Penguins.