By Tim Campbell

PEORIA, Ill. -- It's a new week and the Manitoba Moose start their four-game road trip on the road to nowhere.

Peoria and Rockford, Ill., same difference.

The Moose are quite assuredly limping forward in the AHL's North Division standings, having won just two of their last 10 games.

Miraculously, they are still occupying second place, but the healthy cushion they had built through early January has been whittled to the finest of margins. And now the race is on and the Moose are playing on dull skates, so to speak.

Syracuse and Hamilton have pulled to within two points of the 23-19-2-2 Moose. The Grand Rapids Griffins aren't far back either.

And so as the Moose have made this a race, there aren't a lot of signs today that the tide is turning. In fact, as the trip begins with tonight's game against the Peoria Rivermen (7 p.m., CJOB), the factors are stacking up rather ominously against the Moose.

Here's how -- take a deep breath:

* The lineup. On the weekend, when Manitoba could gain only one point from Hamilton at MTS Centre, eight regulars were missing. Injuries and Vancouver call-ups have left a major challenge in place, and it's been tough sledding for everybody. If it's this group to the finish, the team could be just 50-50 to make the playoffs.

* The offence. In the 2-8 10-game stretch, the Moose have scored just 16 goals, exceeding three in a game not once. That trend is alarming and nothing else.

* The schedule I. This week, it's four games against West Division teams, then two more against Iowa back at MTS Centre next week. The Moose have been terrible against the West so far, just 6-11-0-1, and are winless in the last eight, not an encouraging sign for this trip.

* The schedule II. With 34 to play, Manitoba has its normal busy periods and really, no screwball weeks for travel or game order. Most of that is out of the way. But the Moose have 11 games still to play against Toronto and Chicago, the conference's best teams, and none of their North rivals has such a stiff test. Dark clouds approach.

* The cross-over. The West's fifth team can oust the North's fourth team from the playoffs if it has more points. This looks to be almost a certainly this season, meaning a drop of more than one spot could be fatal to the Moose.

* The defence. It is trying its best, but the team's backline unit is being held together with masking tape and string. There's little offence from the blue line and not really much upside there as things stand. The team's only veteran defenceman, Danny Groulx, has missed nine games and counting with a rib injury and is out this week again.

* Monday. The travel day to start the week did not go smoothly, with a before-sunrise departure from Winnipeg and a late-night arrival in Peoria after bad weather and canceled and delayed flights.

* The attitude. This body-language factor is more of an intangible, but coach Scott Arniel raised the lineup issue after Saturday's 1-0 loss, a dramatic swerve in the road that usually sees the coach talking about opportunities, not who's missing. After that game, the team held a players-only conference and its leader, Mike Keane, said most of the right things but still looked rather worried.

The news isn't all bad, of course. It never is when you're in second place.

Goaltending, as an example, has been better-than-average to excellent. That's consoling, especially if rookie Cory Schneider is indeed coming around, and it must continue.

Opportunities for several players, including some rookies that could do more, still exist. A dramatic change there could shed a whole new light on matters.

The lineup, too, could change. There won't be anything dramatic soon, since Vancouver doesn't look to be getting healthy in the next week or two, but speedy forward Ryan Shannon will return to the lineup tonight after missing all but three games since Oct. 26. That is welcome news, to be sure.

In the coming days, the Moose will certainly be saying that their fate rests solely in their own hands. And they are mostly right. With the exception of Syracuse, they will be playing the teams they are battling, so the potential exists to make solid gains with wins.

And then there's the tried-and-true optimist's axiom -- could things be much worse?

That prevailing mood leaves the door open, but it's not the basis for confidence you'd pick.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca