Phantoms Fall to Norfolk, 6-2

Mike Brown scored a breakaway goal at 7:30 of the second period to break a 1-1 tie and Norfolk exploded for four goals in the third period as the Admirals gave the Philadelphia Phantoms their worst loss of the season, 6-2.

Philadelphia fell to 1-1-2 against its East Division rival, but still holds an eight-point lead over Norfolk.

The Admirals jumped out to a quick lead when they scored just 65 seconds after the opening faceoff. The goal came when Matt Keith won an offensive zone faceoff draw and Matt Wisniewski fired a slap shot towards goaltender Neil Little that was tipped in by Rene Bourque.

Philadelphia responded with a goal of its own to tie the game before the end of the first period, when Ben Stafford found a loose puck in front of the goal crease and whacked it in at 16:01 past Mike Leighton.

After Brown's goal made it 2-1 at the second intermission, Norfolk took over with four goals in a span of five minutes in the third period.

First, it was Quintin Laing who charged the net and tipped in a pass from Mikhail Yakubov at 3:55.

A goal by Travis Moen at 4:38 resulted in Little getting pulled in favor of Chris Houle. Houle did not fair much better, however, surrendering two goals to Pavel Vorobiev as Norfolk extended its lead to 6-1.

A power play goal by Philadelphia's John Slaney at 12:51 capped the scoring.

The Phantoms and Admirals will complete the home-and-home with a game at the Wachovia Spectrum on Sunday. The game time was pushed back to 7:05 p.m. in order to better accommodate fans coming into the sports complex following the Eagles game that afternoon.

Phantoms Notes

Little was making his fourth consecutive start in net while Antero Niittymaki remains out of the lineup. It was the first time the veteran goaltender had started that many in a row since the last four regular season games of the 2002-03 season. ... B.J. Abel played in his 100th game as a pro. ... Houle made his season debut after being recalled from Trenton on Jan. 8.