Prosser Remains Positive Despite Phantoms Winless Streak

Co-captain Nate Prosser spoke honestly after Saturday's defeat in Wilkes-Barre, giving InsideAHLHockey.com a better feel for how the team is reacting to a four-game winless streak.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- After an unsuccessful road trip saw the Lehigh Valley Phantoms lose all four of the games away from home - including Saturday night's third straight regulation loss in a 2-1 setback to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins - the team and fans alike are hoping for better results at the PPL Center as the Phantoms (6-5-5) finish the month of November with five of six on home ice.

Friday night in Binghamton, a slow start in the first period saw the Phantoms out shot 16-5 and largely out played before the Devils ended up scoring goals 1:40 apart in the second period on the way to a 3-1 decision.

"I think after [Friday] night's game, coach kind of reamed us all out that we need to better," co-captain Nate Prosser told InsideAHLHockey.com Saturday. "And everything that needed to be said was said. We need to limit our turnovers and limit our stick infractions and pucks back into our own end - just all the little things that change the course of the game."

Saturday in Wilkes-Barre, it was a different story. The Phantoms jumped out to a strong start territorially and controlled most of the first period - shots were 13-4 in the opening 18 minutes - before a late-period penalty allowed the Penguins to take a 1-0 lead to the middle frame.

While a loss is a loss, it was easy to see the team responded after a not so good effort Friday with a much better performance in a one-goal game that went the other way on Saturday.

Co-captain Nate Prosser spoke honestly after Saturday's defeat in Wilkes-Barre, giving InsideAHLHockey.com a better feel for how the team is reacting to a four-game winless streak.

"It all depends on how we play," Prosser said after Saturday night's loss. "[Friday] night, we didn't have the effort that we needed - especially in the first period. Kind of start of lackadaisical and that's unacceptable. That one is harder to swallow than [Saturday]. I thought we played a hard game, we made a lot of hard plays and played as a team. We made a lot of good plays. Just weren't able to put one in the back of the net when we needed one, obviously. Tonight was a little bit easier to -- I'll never say accept a loss -- but the effort and the team's all-around game was a lot better."

On the season, the Phantoms have now played in 11 one-goal games of their 16 games played to date with a record of 3-3-5 in those affairs.

Perhaps, the experience of playing in so many one-goal games early in the season will bode well for the younger players come spring. That remains to be seen, but it didn't keep Prosser from speaking highly of the younger players that a veteran like himself is looking lead the team's way out of its current funk.

"A lot of our young guys are already good pros, and good teammates," Prosser said when asked if he's had to keep the morale of the younger players in check in balancing the highs and lows in a pro season. "They're learning pretty quickly here that the pro game is a hard game and you have to make the right hard plays each and every shift."

You could see the frustration mounting for the Phantoms as the game wore on Saturday in Wilkes-Barre. Bench doors were getting slammed shut, one player threw a stick down the visitors tunnel to the Phantoms locker room after a shift before grabbing a new one.

"It just seems like we're not giving up very much," Prosser explained of the team's recent woes. "The few Grade-A's we are they end up in the back of our net. The Grade-A's we're getting, I don't know if we're lacking confidence or what it is but if we keep playing the right way things will turn for us. Tonight was - it's hard to accept a loss - but it was a step in the right direction from [Friday] night."

For now, the Phantoms sit in sixth out of eight teams in the Atlantic Division, trailing division and league-leading Hartford WolfPack (New York Rangers) by 10 points. While it's way too early to be thinking about the standings -- AHL teams are nearing the quarter mark of the season later this week/month -- and the Phantoms have plenty of time to right the ship, Prosser didn't dismiss the notion that every point matters.

"Every point is huge whether it's November or whether it's February," Prosser said, adding,  "It's always important, especially games like this against a rival. It would have been nice to get the two points, but we played a hard game. We just have to be ready for the next one."

Up Next

The Phantoms return to action Wednesday night at home, starting a pair of games against another team in the Atlantic Division off to a slow-ish start in the Charlotte Checkers (6-6-2) before finishing the weekend with a rare home matchup against the Belleville Senators on Saturday night - the Ottawa affiliate's lone visit to PPL Center on the season.