Frustration Mounting For Phantoms
ALLENTOWN, PA -- The players and coaching staff wouldn't allow any of the basic excuses to hold merit for why the Lehigh Valley Phantoms are going through a rough patch in the season, just one win in their last seven games after a 4-0-1 start under new head coach Kerry Huffman. But beyond those basic, built-in excuses for AHL teams - injuries, call ups, flu bug making the rounds in the locker room - there's an underlying distraction that is no doubt weighing on the players' minds in this organization. Whether they admit it - some players did - or not.
Through the turmoil of the season their NHL affiliate Philadelphia Flyers are having - a fired GM, head coach and subsequent promotion of the Phantoms' head coach to the NHL level - nothing seemed to phase the Phantoms' success they were having despite all of the changes and the uncertainty that comes when a new general manager comes into an organization.
Up until the end of the 2018 calendar year, the team played through it - not allowing the NHL clubs problems to become their own.
"It's been a tough time of year. We have a lot of injuries, a lot going on," defenseman T.J. Brennan said after Saturday's 3-0 home loss to Hershey. "Guys getting called up. A lot going on in the organization - everyone knows that."
Phantoms' team captain Colin McDonald held a similar sentiment to Brennan after Sunday's 5-4 loss in Hershey, saying, "There's so much uncertainty outside of our team with the Flyers. As difficult as it may be, just really can't get caught up with that. You really just have to focus on ourselves - as individuals and as a team collectively."
While the players and staff won't use it as an excuse, it's not too hard to believe that a bunch of guys trying to make it to the NHL are doing a lot more thinking - what does the new GM think of me, do I have a future here, will I be traded, will other guys up top get traded an open an opportunity for me - than focusing on the task at hand. It's only human nature to start to think about those things when there are definitely uncertainties and unknowns abound - brought on by the struggles of the NHL club and the subsequent changes to its management/staff.
McDonald also added he couldn't - off the top of his head - recall a time the Phantoms have struggled like this over a stretch of games in a season, noted,"We just have to find a way to stick together and understand that we have a lot of games left. And as easy as we lost whatever it has been, we can easily string together those as wins. It's trying times right now, no doubt. Everyone's frustrated. No one has the answer. But, we just have to start with Wednesday."
For the record, you have to go all the way back to the 2015-16 season - almost three calendar years ago - to find a losing skid as rough as the team's current situation. On Friday, March 4, 2016, the Phantoms began what ended up being an eight-game winless streak (0-6-2) through Wednesday, March 23 - the franchise's worst home loss in Lehigh Valley history an 8-0 defeat at the hands of Hershey.
"I hope a couple weeks, a couple months from now we can look back at this and say we went through some tough times and guys stuck together and battled through it," McDonald said after Sunday's loss. "We have to be professional about this and find a way to get through it. It's not going to be easy. This might not be rock bottom, I don't know. We just have to find a way - everyone has to raise their game a little bit more to help us get through this."
That 2015-16 team, by the way, went on to end the skid with a 4-3 March 25 win vs. Providence and actually turned the tides and won six of seven games in the stretch following the losing streak.
"These are trying times. It's really a test of our character. Young guys, old guys, staff, coaches," McDonald said, adding,"We're not going to surprise teams anymore because of what we have done the last couple years. No one's going to take us lightly. We just have to find a way to battle through this."
