Bolt Prospects would like to wish a safe and happy Thanksgiving to its readers.

I'd like to also personally extend holiday thanks to Chad, Tim, Joe, Erik and the the rest of the Bolt Prospects staff.

This is a tough one...

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Jonathan Boutin stopped 30 of 32 shots faced in the loss. Brady Greco assisted on the lone Chiefs goal by Joe Tallari.

Game sheet from ECHL.com.

Now THAT is some exciting NHL action.

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The Lightning reacted to falling behind 3-0 in a very positive way and charged back to tie the game 3-3 partly on the strength of two Dan Boyle goals and had numerous opportunities to win it in regulation and overtime. But, perhaps, this way is better as the Lightning finally got the shootout monkey off their backs thanks to John Grahame and shootout markers by Brad Richards and Vaclav Prospal.

Amongst the rookies, I thought Paul Ranger quietly had an outstanding game at his end of the rink. He continues to surprise me with how poised he is defensively. The young man is very active with the stick and is very cool, calm and adept at spinning away from forecheckers and making the smart play to move the puck out of danger. 19:20 of even ice time tonight. Evgeny Artyukhin with 11:07 of ice time, 3 hits and 2 minor penalties.

Game sheet from NHL.com.

Whew. Sometimes it feels like the Falcons are as inept at protecting leads as Ranger Smith was at protecting picnic baskets.

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The good news is that the Falcons charged out to a 4-0 lead in this game. The bad news is they almost coughed it up. Gerald Coleman made 34 saves on 37 shots to hold onto the win by a fingernail. Young Dave Spina got the game's first star with his first AHL goal and assist in this contest. O'Brien, Packard and Kvapil added goals as well and veteran Anders Eriksson had an assist on the power play in his first game for the Falcons.

I can't believe Colin Forbes (Lowell) is still playing hockey. Game sheet from TheAHL.com.

Nikita Alexeev scored the game winning goal today in Avangard Omsk's 2-1 triumph over SKA St. Petersburg. Alexeev now has 5 goals and 8 points in 22 games this season.