Burns: 3 Things from a loss in Minnesota

Following Tampa Bay's 5-2 loss in Minnesota to start a stretch of eight-straight games away from AMALIE Arena, Lightning defenseman Dan Girardi said the Bolts took "a step forward" compared to how they'd played in the previous couple of games.
That step wasn't large enough, however, to overcome a well-rested Minnesota team coming off its bye week.

The Lightning's misery in Minnesota continued on Saturday. The Wild opened up a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period, withstood the Bolts' pushback and leaned on goaltender Devan Dubnyk to hand Tampa Bay its third-consecutive loss, the first time this season the Lightning have lost more than two-straight games.
The Bolts fall to 2-9-1 all-time in Minnesota, a place they haven't won since the 2010-11 season.
Tampa Bay won't get much of a chance to regroup either. It heads to Chicago to play the Blackhawks on Monday followed by a road tilt in Nashville on Tuesday, the eighth back-to-back set of the season for the Lightning.
A few issues stood out in Saturday's loss. We'll examine them further in Three Things we learned from a third-straight defeat.

1. SLOW STARTS BECOMING COMMONPLACE FOR TAMPA BAY
It's not so much the Lightning played poorly in the opening period against the Wild.
The shot counter and, ultimately, the scoreboard suggested otherwise however.
Tampa Bay had a couple good scoring chances in the opening minutes and looked dangerous on their one power-play opportunity of the period.
The Wild, though, were able to cash in on their chances where the Lightning weren't.
After Andrej Sustr was sent to the penalty box midway through the first period, Minnesota won the ensuing face-off and Jared Spurgeon blistered a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was still standing trying to find the puck by the time Spurgeon was ready to shoot. The quick goal off the face-off was the third the Lightning have suffered in the last two games.
"We're 30th in the league (on face-offs), so that's obviously a concern for us," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said following the game. "It's tough because our last game, we were 58 percent in the circle. The problem is two of them ended up in our night. Tonight, one ends up in our net. It's not like that's been happening all year, but it's kind of the way things have been going for us."
Near the end of the first, Minnesota was opportunistic again, Daniel Winnik dropping a pass in the slot for Ryan Suter, whose shot was tipped at the net by an unaccounted for Zach Parise for his first goal of the season.
Minnesota finished the first period with a 10-6 advantage in shots. And, more importantly, they were feeling good about themselves up 2-0.
The Lightning, meanwhile, were left scratching their heads, wondering what happened.
"I thought we actually played a pretty good first but were down a couple," Girardi said. "I think judging by our last couple games, tonight was a step forward even though we lost. I think we did a lot of good things. We were trying to play the right way, trying to play within ourselves, not trying to get away from the game plan when things aren't going right. We did a little better job of that tonight, just kind of sticking to the system."
Unfortunately for the Lightning, the energetic start to the game did little to stem the tide of tough luck the team's suffered of late.

2. D ZONE COVERAGE REMAINS AN ISSUE
Early in the third period with the Lightning down by two goals but generating momentum after Brayden Point finally got them on the board with a little less than five minutes to go in the second, Marcus Foligno found himself wide open in the slot. Matt Cullen had the puck behind the Bolts goal and sent a pass into the middle of the ice for Foligno, who buried the opportunity.
The play was typical of the struggles the Lightning have faced of late.
Too often during this recent losing skid, Tampa Bay has lost track of opposing players in its own defensive zone, allowing for some wide open opportunities against goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. Through the first half of the season, Vasilevskiy was able to make those critical stops to keep the Bolts in the lead or within striking distance.
But Vasilevskiy hasn't been as sharp over his last five starts, and the D zone deficiencies have been more glaring as a result.
"I think we can defend better," Point said. "We give up a couple shots right from the slot that are tough to stop for a goalie because we had nobody on them."
Girardi said the Lightning need to do a better job of protecting the area in front of goal when the puck goes behind the net rather than scrambling to try to cover options on the perimeter or on the edges.
"If you leave guys in the middle open, there are good players in this league. They're going to score," Girardi said. "And it's tough when guys are tired, they get running around and sometimes you've got to keep it tight, keep it simple."

3. MAKING A POINT (TWO, ACTUALLY)
Tampa Bay center Brayden Point tallied 40 points in 2016-17 during a scintillating start to his NHL career in his rookie season.
Point has already eclipsed that total this season in just his 46th game.
On Saturday, Point scored both Lightning goals, cutting the Bolts deficit to two each time and giving his team a small lifeline. In the second period with Tampa Bay trailing 3-0 and searching for anything positive, Point got the Lightning on the board, firing a high shot past Minnesota goalie Dubnyk with Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson providing a screen in front.
In the third period with the Lightning on a five-on-three power play, Point sent a shot toward goal that Dubnyk trapped under his body and kicked into the net with his leg.
For Point, the two-goal game was his first of the season and fourth of his career. He passed Steven Stamkos for second on the Lightning for goals after netting Nos. 18 and 19 on Saturday, and he now trails Nikita Kucherov by just eight goals for the team lead.
If there was some concern Point might suffer the dreaded sophomore slump, those fears have been quickly laid to rest.
He was the Lightning's best player on the ice on Saturday and has been one of the more invaluable members of the team all season.