Burns: 3 Things we learned from a Game 4 win in New Jersey

As the Tampa Bay Lightning filed into their locker room following a 3-1 victory in Game 4 Wednesday of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series versus the Devils, Takin' Care of Business blared from the locker room speakers.
Certainly, the Bolts took care of business in New Jersey in Game 4.
And they took control of the series.

Tampa Bay surrendered the opening goal for the first time in the series but rallied soon after, scoring the game-tying and game-winning goal in the first period. Then the defense and the penalty kill went to work, shutting out the Devils the rest of the way behind a spectacular 27-of-28 save effort from goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The Lightning now have three games to try and close out the Devils and advance to the next round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Bolts want to end the series Saturday afternoon in Game 5 in front of their home crowd and avoid another trip to New Jersey.
And then they'll have truly taken care of business.

1. LIGHTNING FOLLOW KUCHEROV'S LEAD
Nikita Kucherov isn't known for his defensive prowess and he's certainly not viewed as a big hitter.
But in the first period of Game 4, Kucherov laid a devastating hit on New Jersey's Sami Vatanen, knocking the defenseman down on the ice and out of the game.
The hit came after the Lightning scored a pair of goals to take the lead, one from J.T. Miller set up by Kucherov and the second from Kucherov himself with a snipe from the slot. Moments later, Kucherov drove his shoulder into Vatanen, separating him from the puck and sending him reeling. The hit, which Kucherov said after the game wasn't meant to hurt Vatanen, fired up the Lightning, who took their cue from the Russian forward and committed to play defense the rest of the night, shutting down the Devils and not allowing another goal.
"Anytime you see one of your top offensive players and one of the best in the league offensively hit a guy like that, that's a big-time hit and that gives the group a spark," Miller said. "I think that was a big part of that first period. When he's involved and engaged physically like that, he sends a message to the team that everybody's got to be engaged and this is a big game and I think from there on out we played a really solid game."
Kucherov brought the offense too. He set up the opening goal with a pretty passing sequence between his linemates, the Bolts' top line accounting for seven of their eight total points. He got himself enough room in the slot on Tampa Bay's second goal to take Braydon Coburn's feed and beat Cory Schneider top shelf despite being closely guarded. And he added an empty-net goal with 1:08 to go to end the Devils' bid to tie the game late.
Kucherov recorded his second three-point night of the 2018 playoffs and eighth of his playoff career. He moved within one point of Vincent Lecavalier for the second-most playoff points in Lightning history.
Kucherov might not have single handedly won Game 4.
But he came pretty dang close.
"Kuch tonight flexed his muscles," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "He's been pretty dynamic on the power play. But tonight I thought all around he was the best player on the ice. He just, when you're playing both sides of the puck, you're contributing offensively, defensively, you're physical, you're engaged, it did nothing but lift our team. He was a big part of why we one tonight."

2. VASILEVSKIY A CLOSE SECOND FOR GAME MVP
On Tuesday, Andrei Vasilevskiy was selected as one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, given at season's end to the top goaltender in the NHL.
On Wednesday, Vasilevskiy went out and showed why.
The Russian netminder stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced in one of his best career postseason performances.
Following the game, Miller was asked if Vasilevskiy's game reminded him of his former teammate in New York, Henrik Lundqvist.
"That's a good example," Miller replied. "Obviously I got to see it firsthand of one of the best over the last decade. (Vasilevskiy's) competitive nature is a lot like that. He doesn't like to lose. He doesn't like to give up any goals, even in practice. He's super competitive and wants to stop them all and that's really important to have back there."
Vasilevskiy nearly stopped them all in Game 4, the only shot to beat him coming on a 5-on-3 New Jersey power play. Other than that, he was perfect.
Vasilevskiy was at his best in the first period with the Lightning down 1-0. Travis Zajac got behind the Lightning penalty kill and was skating in all alone on goal, but Vasilevskiy was able to block away his breakaway attempt. Moments later, Blake Coleman intercepted a pass and raced around Mikhail Sergachev down the right wing to make a strong move on goal.
Again, Vasilevskiy held firm and kept the deficit at just a goal. If New Jersey scores on either of those plays, the Lightning might have found themselves in too big of a hole to recover from.
"You're going to give up some chances," Cooper said. "You don't hope to give up those Grade-A ones that we gave up. It's probably a reason he's going to Vegas in June because he can make those saves at those times. Regardless if a team gets 50 shots in a game, if they're all from the outside and he's getting a lot of work, but if you're not getting a ton of work, can you make the big save at the big time? And he's shown that ability to do that."
If Kucherov was the best player on the ice for the Lightning, Vasilevskiy was second best. His ability to close the net as the last line of defense was the catalyst for the Bolts' shut-down effort over the final 50 minutes.

3. PENALTY KILL SAVES THE DAY
Just like in their loss on Monday, the Lightning took too many penalties in Game 4, the Bolts going down shorthanded six times on Wednesday, including an early 5-on-3 that the Devils converted for their only goal.
The Lightning penalty kill made sure those numerous infractions didn't cost them the game however.
Time and time again in Game 4, the penalty kill was called upon to bail out the Bolts when the Devils were awarded a power play and a chance to level the score. And each time the PK responded, blocking shots when needed, clogging up passing and shooting lanes and leaving the Devils' power play scratching its head as to how to unlock the structured foursome standing in its way.
"That's been the big emphasis coming into the playoffs and the last four games," Miller said of the penalty kill. "We've really been working on that. We wanted to figure out something we could stick too. The guys on the PK right now are doing an awesome job. Obviously, you don't want to be taking six, seven penalties a game, but the last two games, the only ones we've been giving up are on the 5-on-3. I think it's such a positive. If the PK doesn't come up big, who knows how the game is going? They're a huge part of it."
The Lightning penalty kill ranked 28th in the NHL during the regular season with a 76.1 percent success rate. In the playoffs the PK has allowed three power-play goals total with two of those coming in 5-on-3 situations and ranks fifth in the playoffs at 83.3 percent.
"Your power play can help you win games, but your penalty kill really wins games," Cooper said. "If you're keeping them off the board, it's kind of a wash. I just thought our penalty kill tonight - the power play's not going to click at 55% or whatever it is this whole series - but it's been our penalty kill that's just been outstanding for us."