Lightning prospect netminder Vasily Koshechkin made his first start of the Superleague season today, scoring a big victory by upsetting Moscow Dynamo 3-2. The goaltender also played 12:24 of scoreless hockey in relief in Lada's last game, a 3-1 loss to Magnitogorsk. Albert Vishnyakov assisted on an Alexander Ryasnetsev goal midway through the third as Dynamo fell short in its comeback bid in the game. Also, Lightning prospect Dimitry Kazionov returned to the lineup for Togliatti. The former 2002 4th round pick had 4 penalty minutes in the game.

Elsewhere, Alexei Glukhov assisted on Ales Pisa's first period goal as Khimik MO was rolled by Spartak Moscow 5-1.

In the words of the godfather of soul, "My brother get ready, that's a fact! Get ready you mother... for the big pay back."

FLA-1
TB-2

Crazy ending whereby some questionable officiating nearly handed the Panthers a point, however John Grahame was large. PantherNation will spin this as proof of their impending playoff ascendency, but I prefer to look at it as John Grahame being able to match the best young goaltender in the game, Luongo, pretty much save for save the past two nights. The Lightning's offense is going to eventually come around. It's an inevitability. Goaltending was the question mark and so far John Grahame has the answer.

Tonight marks the opening game of the second season for the Springfield Falcons under a full affiliation with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Much is on the line as the Lightning try and establish the Falcons as a credible AHL club while at the same time developing desperately needed young talent which will be in the NHL sooner rather than later with the new CBA. I will be covering the game live using the B2 Networks' cybercast, so for those who aren't watching the Panthers/Lightning game, buckle up.

Update: I just wanted to add because I bagged on the internet connection I got to the B2 Network the last game that their service was nearly flawless all night long. Excellent job B2.

Tonight's lineup and lines:

Milley/Vesce/Campbell
Craig/Jaspers/Artyukhin
Reid/Henrich/Kvapil
Fritz/Tarnasky

Ranger/Rohloff
H. Pratt/Egener
O'Brien/Bombardir

Eklund
Coleman

Justin Keller, Chris Lawrence, and Radek Smolenak continued their point streaks Friday night. Including Chicoutimi winger Stanislav Lascek, Tampa Bay has four prospects with scoring streaks of four games or more, and two with points in six straight games.

Friday night in the CHL and NCAA:

It's been another banner day for the Lightning's Finnish born goaltending prospects. Not to be outdone by young Karri Ramo's 1-0 shutout victory over Jokerit in the SM-liiga, Fredrik Norrena today stopped 20 of 20 shots to shutout HC Mora 2-0. With the victory, Linkopings and Norrena now improve to 6-0 on the season. Norrena is currently third in the Swedish Elitserien in GAA and sv% with a 1.33 GAA and a .952 save percentage.

Defenseman Andreas Holmqvist, who played on the second pairing in the game, saw his point scoring streak snapped at 2 games. Linkopings has opened up a 4 point lead in the standings over Vastra Frolunda for the league's top spot. The team's eight goals allowed is tied for the best in the league with Brynas IF.