By Mike Thornton
Philadelphia Phantoms Correspondent

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Phantoms took one on the chin Wednesday night at the Wachovia Spectrum, as the visiting Hartford Wolf Pack handed the Phantoms a humbling 8-2 loss. Brad Smyth paced the Pack with five points on two goals and three assists.

Colby Genoway put the Wolf Pack on the board with the first period's lone goal 6:22 in, as a shot by Jake Taylor deflected to the left wing circle. From that spot, Genoway chipped in his 22nd of the season.

The next four goals of the game were scored on the power play, with Matt Ellison tying the game in a five-on-three situation at 5:02. He was planted to the right of the net and slung in his ninth. Just over a minute later, Nigel Dawes snuck from behind the Philadelphia net and shuffled the puck through the legs of goaltender Jamie Storr. Storr was then relieved by Martin Houle, who came in for the Phantoms for the rest of the second and most of the third.

To close out the second period, Smyth's first of the night made it 3-1. He then assisted on Ivan Barinka's marker just 1:48 into the third for a three-goal advantage.

Marc Cavosie momentarily stopped the bleeding at 4:26, but Hartford responded with a trio of goals less than two minutes after Cavosie seemingly made things manageable. Smyth lit the lamp again at 4:43, followed by Chad Wiseman and Martin Grenier. After Dwight Helminen scored the last goal for Wolf Pack at 11:33, Storr returned to net and held the Pack at bay.

Storr totaled 10 saves on 12 shots in 34:42 of work, while Houle suffered the loss, stopping eight of 14 in 25:18.

Robert Gherson took the victory with 23 saves on 25 shots. The Wolf Pack captured all three stars of the game with Smyth, Wiseman, and Jarkko Immonen respectively. The Pack finished the night with an impressive 23 points for the game.