The Lehigh Valley Phantoms just wrapped up a stretch of the schedule that had them home for six of their last seven games. In those six home games, they managed to go just 2-4, missing a golden opportunity to pick up ground in the playoff hunt. An optimist would point out that the two wins came in their last three games of the streak. Unfortunately for Lehigh Valley, it's hard to muster too much optimism since the team stands nine points out of the playoffs with just 19 games left to play.

The lone loss in those three came Saturday night against Providence, a team also fighting for their playoff lives, but positioned on the inside of the playoff standings right now. The 5-4 loss was especially difficult, since the Phantoms played a strong game and twice battled back to score less than a minute after the Pirates had scored.It's frustrating to work hard and not come up with the results that we want, but - I know I'm like a broken-record with you guys - you just have to look forward, you can't dwell on what happened, you just have to look forward," said Andrew Gordon after Saturday's loss. "The problem with the schedule is that everyone plays each other. The four teams in front of us are all playing each other, so someone is going to get points every night. Every time that you split a weekend 50-50, you don't make up any ground at all.The schedule has another glitch for the Phantoms in that they have to go on the road for five straight games, starting with a game in Toronto tomorrow night and ending with a March 20th game in Hartford. Four of the five games are against Eastern Conference opponents, three of which - Providence, Hartford and Worcester - are ahead of the Phantoms in the standings. Lehigh is 12-14-2-0 on the road this season and they'll need to play well to have any hope of post-season hockey.Winger Austin Fyten believes that the team has put themselves in a position where they've left themselves very little room for error, which makes the five game trip a key part of the season."It's very important. We're in a position where we can't lose any games right now," said Fyten. "It was definitely disappointing to drop this one [against Portland], but we've got to go on the road and string some wins together here."There's definitely some good things to keep working on and pushing on and some negative things to work on, but I thought we did pretty well coming down the stretch here at home to get a couple wins, so now we have to go on the road and do the same thing.Terry Murray isn't worried about whether games are at home or on the road. Instead, he's just boiling it down to a simple mathematical equation that can only be solved by playing good hockey no matter where the games are."We know that with where we are in the standings, there's a long way to climb. We've got to find a way to get about 28 points out there, somehow, so whether you're on the road or at home, you've got to come and play your A-game," stressed Murray.Phantom Facts: Highly-touted prospect Shayne Gostisbehere has been out since November with an tear and there's some confusion about whether he'll return this season. Murray and Gostisbehere both reported last week that the Flyers were shutting him down for the year, but Flyers GM Ron Hextall told reporters that a decision hasn't been made... The Phantoms lineup took a big hit when defenseman and lone all-star Brandon Manning was recalled by the Flyers prior to Saturday's game. Manning has scored ten goals and has 32 assists in 54 games with the Phantoms this season and leads the AHL in power play points with 24... Of the 19 remaining games, nine are at home, with two four-game homestands and a lone home game to wrap up the season against rival Wilkes-Barre on April 19th. Lehigh Valley plays their final road game of the season the night before in Hershey.