O'Brien, Doug

Third period collapse drops the Falcons to 1-1.

SPR-3
NOR-6

Karri Ramo allowed 4 goals in the span of 3:45 in the third period as the Falcons imploded in their second game of the season. Ramo stopped 28 of 34 shots faced in the loss. Eric Healey led the way offensively for the Falcons scoring two goals while rookie Blair Jones added 2 assists in the game. Zdenek Blatny scored the team's other goal, on the power play, while Jared Aulin and Doug O'Brien had individual helpers.

Game sheet from TheAHL.com.

In his Friday column Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune speculated the team's cap situation may force the Lightning to carry one or two rookie defensemen on the roster on opening night. That's a pretty fair expectation and at the very minimum I suspected the Lightning would put one of the rookies into the #7 defenseman slot at the league minimum for economic reasons. Erlendsson lists several prospects as potential options and, in particular, highlights Swiss stay-at-home defenseman Timo Helbling. Helbling, you might remember, checked in at #5 on my personal list of overage Lightning prospects. Here's my handicapping of the situation:

After a one-week stint in the ECHL, Lightning prospect Doug O'Brien is back in the AHL. The Falcons issued the following release today:

Springfield, Mass. – The Springfield Falcons, American Hockey League affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning, today announced that defenseman Doug O’Brien has been recalled to the club from the Johnstown Chiefs of the ECHL.