Burns: Three Things we learned from defeating the Devils

Tampa Bay didn't play its prettiest game of the season when it hosted the New Jersey Devils at AMALIE Arena Thursday night.
The Lightning certainly weren't as sharp as they were in their previous contest, a 7-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks to conclude a three-game stretch in California on Saturday.
But the Bolts elevated their play after a lethargic start, and, buoyed by a critical four-minute penalty kill in the second, one in which they exited the kill plus-one in the goal department, the Lightning fended off the Devils 3-2 to post their sixth win over the last seven contests.

"I've got to give the guys credit for coming back in this one and grinding it out," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said after his team's 29th victory of the season.
Ondrej Palat and Jan Rutta both returned to action after missing time due to lower-body injuries. Palat skated in his 590th career game, passing Tyler Johnson and moving into seventh place among Tampa Bay's all-time games played leaders.
The Bolts will look to continue their winning ways when they host the Vegas Golden Knights Saturday.
Here's what we learned from the Lightning pulling out a win over the Devils.

1. PENALTY KILL PROVIDES BEST OFFENSE
The pivotal moment in Thursday's contest came past the midpoint of the second period with the game tied 1-1.
Jan Rutta was whistled for a high-sticking infraction, which ended up being a four-minute double minor.
New Jersey had already scored on its previous power play, Damon Severson flicking a shot on goal center point that found a way through traffic past Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy early in the game.
The Devils were handed a golden opportunity to regain the lead when Rutta was sent to the box.
The Lightning, however, found offense much easier to come by on the penalty kill, certainly more so than the Devils.
Early in the kill, Anthony Cirelli got free behind everybody for a shorthanded breakaway chance. His shot was denied by the left leg of New Jersey goalie Jon Gillies, but Cirelli was hooked from behind on the play by Severson and a penalty shot was called.
Cirelli was stopped again by Gillies left leg on the penalty shot attempt, the game remaining tied 1-1 and New Jersey still with plenty of time remaining on the power play.
A couple seconds later, though, the Lightning would cash in on another scoring chance generated by their stout defense holding the blue line.
Joseph was able to deny a Devils offensive zone entry by knocking a puck out of the air and started a 2-on-1 back the other way with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. Joseph carried the puck all the way into the zone and shot from the right dot. Gillies was able to make the initial stop but didn't know where the puck was. He froze, thinking it might be trapped somewhere in his body.
Instead, it sat in front of him on the ice. Joseph was able to recognize the loose puck before Gillies and easily tap in his own rebound to give the Lightning their first lead 2-1 at 14:16 of the second.
"I feel like we want to be aggressive at the line and create turnovers like that here and there," said Joseph, who scored the second shorthanded goal of his career, both coming this season. "It was kind of a fortunate play. I got the touch to get the puck out of the air and (Bellemare) drove the net, so the defenseman had to respect that."
Anthony Cirelli said Joseph's speed is what makes him so dangerous on those shorthanded opportunities.
"He's just so quick out there and so fast," Cirelli said. "He gets on pucks, creates turnovers, and once he gets that turnover, he's gone. And he's making plays. You see him, he's confident going to the net, taking pucks to the net and finding guys. I think he's been unbelievable for us on the kill.
The Lightning still had power play time to kill off. New Jersey was able to get set up in the zone toward the end of the four minutes, but the Bolts did enough to keep them from any Grade-A looks and the kill was completed, the Lightning getting more good looks offensively during the penalty kill than they had in the entire game combined up until that point.

2. BELLEMARE CAN PLAY GOALIE TOO
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare has been one of the Lightning's more consistent players this season. He centers the third line, the School Bus Line as Pat Maroon so eloquently called it, a trio that has remained together nearly the entire season since they were put together.
Bellemare plays hard in his own end. He's one of the Bolts' best face-off men. He's a stalwart on the penalty kill, leading all Lightning forwards and ranking seventh among NHL forwards for average shorthanded time on ice.
And, we learned on Thursday, he can play goal in a pinch too.
Bellemare was called upon to make a quick reaction save in the first period with the Lightning already trailing 1-0 to keep the deficit at a single goal. On the play, a shot came in that Vasilevskiy was able to stop, but the puck slipped behind him.
As it was about to cross the goal line, Bellemare swooped in, reached with his stick and pulled it back into the blue paint. At that point, Vasilevskiy had turned around and was able to trap the puck to the ice with his glove to get a whistle.
"Belly kind of saved a big goal there for us," Joseph said. "Instead of being 2-0, it was still 1-0 and we got to come back in the game."
Earlier this season, the Lightning had to turn to AHL goalies Maxime Lagace and Hugo Alnefelt when Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott both entered COVID protocol.
Maybe if something similar happens in the future, the Lightning can use Bellemare in a pinch.

3. OVERCOMING AN EXPECTED SLOW START
Like clockwork, whenever a team returns home from an extended road trip or plays a game after considerable time off, that team will need time to get its legs underneath and build into the game.
The Lightning had to deal with both situations Thursday against New Jersey.
Tampa Bay was back on the east coast after playing three games and spending six nights in California last week. And the Lightning had four days without a game between their 7-1 demolition of San Jose to close out the road trip on Saturday and Thursday's homestand opener against the Devils.
Predictably, the first 10 minutes were a struggle for the Bolts. They had trouble breaking the puck out of their own end, their coverage in the defensive zone was suspect and they turned the puck over routinely.
So it was hardly a surprise when Severson was able to find the back of the net 4:33 into the contest on a power play to put the Devils in front early.
The Lightning continued to slog their way through the first period until about the 10-minute mark when they were able to maintain possession for longer stretches and thus could generate more scoring chances in the offensive zone. After being severely outshot early, the Bolts finished with an 18-12 advantage in shots by the end of the opening period.
"Sometimes after not playing for a couple of days, you try to find your legs early," Joseph said. "They came out kind of flying."
Bellemare's save off the goal line was pivotal in keeping the Lightning close to the Devils until they found their game. And once they did, they were able to wrest control away from the Devils, aside from a couple stretches later where they got a bit loose and allowed New Jersey a decent look at the net.
"We were rusty, we were off on our execution," Cooper said. "I thought as that first period went on, we were kind of getting our game back."