Burns: 3 Things we learned from an opening night rout of Chicago

On an Opening Night at AMALIE Arena where the Stanley Cup was in the house and a 2019-20 championship banner was unveiled, the Tampa Bay Lightning, at least for one night, looked like a team poised to keep that Cup in the Bay Area for a lot longer.
Tampa Bay steamrolled the Chicago Blackhawks 5-1 Wednesday, the Lightning scoring three goals in the opening period - including two in a 1:39 span late - to take a commanding lead into the first intermission and scoring the first five goals total, the Blackhawks only breaking through late in the game to end Andrei Vasilevskiy's bid for a shutout.

Brayden Point looked as dynamic as ever, scoring a goal and adding an assist.
Steven Stamkos was Steven Stamkos, leading the Lightning for scoring with a goal and two assists.
Ondrej Palat picked up his torrid goal pace from the playoffs by netting the first goal of the new season.
Vasilevskiy was largely untested but made the save of the game when he stretched his left leg out as wide as it would go to deny Andrew Shaw's rebound attempt in close.
And the Lightning received secondary offense too, Mathieu Joseph and Anthony Cirelli each scoring in the opening period in an impactful night for the Bolts' second line.
The only downside to the evening was the empty arena, Lightning fans unable to watch the championship celebration before the game and the Bolts' continued inspired play during it in person.
"We wanted to make sure we had a good showing for them tonight so when people get up in the morning and they're around the water cooler they can talk about how cool the game was and how we represented Tampa well because the guys love being here, they love playing for our fans, they love the city, and it shows," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "I think part of our success is just because of our attachment to the town."

1. NEW-LOOK POWER PLAY SHINES
The most compelling storyline of training camp was how the power play might recover from the loss of Nikita Kucherov to a hip injury and surgery that will keep him out for the entire 2020-21 regular season.
The Lightning tinkered with different combinations in the days leading up to the opener. Cooper said they wouldn't have a solution on the first day. It'd likely take all of camp, probably a few games, maybe even a month to figure an adequate solution.
In reality, it took just over 10 minutes.
The Lightning earned their first power play halfway through the opening period. Only 31 seconds in, Victor Hedman fired a shot from the point on net, where Ondrej Palat was waiting to slam home the rebound after Chicago goalie Malcolm Subban made the initial stop.
"If you can get Heddy to establish his shot early on the power play like we did for Pally's goal, that kind of sets up the rest of the power plays," Stamkos said.
After coming up empty on their second power play, their third was vintage Tampa Bay Lightning. Point delivered a beautiful cross-ice pass into the left circle where Stamkos was waiting to one-time a shot from his knee past a diving Subban, who had no chance to make the save on the picture-perfect play.
"The power play clicked a little bit tonight, so that was good to see," Cooper said.
The Lightning finished 2-for-4 on the power play Wednesday and even looked threatening on the power plays they didn't convert.
"When you don't have a lot of time, I don't think you can commit to a certain group or system and say, 'Okay, this is what it's going to go on day one,' and that's it," Cooper said. "You've got to get a feel for the guys and their spots, and you want to try players in different situations to see what works. We were able to do that. But in the end, we're pretty comfortable with the group we have. Those four of them were on the PP last year that unit, the difference being you're subbing out Kuch for Stamkos, but, again, the core has been together for a while here, so we know what players' strengths are, the guys know what their strengths are, it's just a matter of us tinkering a bit with the movement. It was game one. They looked pretty good. Let's just keep building on that because we're only, gosh, 10 days into the first time we stepped onto the ice together. But for our first game, pretty happy with it."

2. LEAVE NO DOUBT
If there were any concerns as to the health of Steven Stamkos, the Lightning captain emphatically extinguished them in one night.
Stamkos looked like his old self in training camp and said he was 100 percent ready to go for the season opener.
Still, until playing in a competitive situation against an opponent other than your teammate and taking continuous pounding, it's hard to know how the body will hold up.
Stamkos was a threat from the opening shift and a difference maker for the Lightning on Opening Night taking Nikita Kucherov's spot on the top line alongside Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point.
Early in the game, Stamkos sidestepped Calvin De Haan at center ice, even as De Haan interfered with him and was penalized for it, to get in behind the defense and fire a dangerous shot from the right circle. The Lightning scored the opening goal of the game on the ensuing power play, Stamkos providing the second assist.
In the second period, he lasered his patented power-play left circle one-timer into the back of the net to build the Lightning lead to 4-0 and effectively end any hopes of a Chicago comeback.
Stamkos paced Tampa Bay for power-play goals in 2019-20 with 10.
It appears he'll be the main threat again for the Bolts on that unit.
Stamkos assisted on Point's goal in the third to finish with three points, leading all scorers. He now has 14 career points in Season Openers (3 goals, 11 assists), tying Vincent Lecavalier (7-7-14 pts.) for most in franchise history.
Stamkos also now has recorded points in the last 17 games he's played going back to last season and including his one game in the playoffs. He's posted 14 goals, 12 assists and seven multi-point games over that stretch.
After the game, Stamkos admitted it was the best he's felt in a long time.
"You know, it's tough. Sometimes in camp and those scrimmages, the intensity's just not there, and you get into real action the instincts take over and you want to be out there making plays," he said. "It was nice to get out there. Playing with Pointer and Pally makes life a little easier for sure, but I felt good. I feel like I'm just going to build off of that and continue to get stronger as the season progresses. I haven't played a lot of hockey for a long time, so it was a good start."

3. WELCOME BACK, JO
It had been exactly 11 months since Mathieu Joseph last played a game in the NHL, that coming February 13 of last season. The speedy forward slumped a bit in his second year in the league after putting up 13 goals and 26 points as a rookie and was sent to AHL Syracuse midway through the season to rediscover his game.
Joseph rejoined the Lightning toward the end of the 2019-20 regular season and was with them throughout their 2020 Stanley Cup Playoff run but was the only skater not to get into a game.
Joseph rediscovered his game during the pause and in his offseason training, looked more confident in camp nd his speed continued to be a weapon.
Playing alongside Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli Wednesday night, Joseph made his case for regular playing time and maybe even a continued roll on that second line.
The 23 year old netted the Lightning's second goal off a scramble at the net, Joseph poking at the puck from the side of the goal mouth and banking a shot off the back of Subban, who accidentally kicked the puck into his own net.
The goal was Joseph's first since November 9, 2019 when the Lightning defeated the Buffalo Sabres in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the NHL's Global Series.
A little over a minute later, Joseph and his line again showed their scoring touch, Cirelli deftly getting the shaft of his stick on Erik Cernak's shot from the right circle to give the Bolts a 3-0 lead and all the momentum heading into the first intermission.
"I think my skating was good, and I was trying to be relentless out there," Joseph said. "Playing with Tony and Killer is pretty easy for me to adjust with these guys since I've played so much with them. I think we've always had chemistry. We were good in their zone and I think that was important. I'm still trying to improve my game every time I go on the ice. I'm doing the best I can to get better."
The Lightning will need others to step up in the absence of Nikita Kucherov this season. Perhaps Joseph can be one of those forwards to shoulder more of the offensive load.
His performance Wednesday was a good start.
"His big attribute for him is his speed," Cooper said. "He was using it tonight. He was getting in on the forecheck. They were pretty responsible with the puck. They had some really good O zone shifts. It's a continuous work in progress. For Jo, he hasn't played a game in 10 months, so I think he was chomping at it to get out there. He showed well."