Burns: 3 Things we learned from an overtime loss and a Game 7

Tampa Bay was less than nine minutes away from clinching its Stanley Cup Semifinal series against the New York Islanders and returning to the Cup Final for the second-straight season and fourth time in franchise history.
Scott Mayfield put that on hold when he snapped a wrist shot over the glove of Andrei Vasilevskiy from the bottom right circle to tie the game 2-2 past the midpoint of the third period.
And then Anthony Beauvillier dashed those hopes 1:08 into overtime when he intercepted Blake Coleman's pass in front of the Lightning goal and found the back of the net to send the Islanders to a 3-2 victory and force a winner-take-all Game 7 in Tampa on Friday.

The Islanders rallied from a two-goal deficit to level the series three games apiece
Brayden Point extended his goal-scoring run to nine games after netting the Game 6 opener 16:02 into the contest. Anthony Cirelli extended the Lightning lead to 2-0 at 12:36 of the second when he got behind the Islanders defense thanks to Ondrej Palat's stretch pass and scored at the net five-hole through Semyon Varlamov.
But the Bolts couldn't hold the lead.
Jordan Eberle offered a critical response to Cirelli's goal, scoring with a backhander from the slot less than two minutes after Cirelli scored to give the Islanders life and re-ignite the crowd inside the Nassau Coliseum.
Then the Islanders took over the game in the third period and won it in overtime.
The Lightning lost for just the second time this season when entering the third period with a lead (also: 6-5 OT loss in Game 3 of 1st Rd. vs. Florida).
They'll have to rebound quick: Game 7 is Friday at AMALIE Arena, their chance to defend the Stanley Cup championship on the line.
"You can look at the Stanley Cup Final, had a chance to win the Cup and we lost in overtime," Victor Hedman said. "We've been down this road before, so it's nothing different for us. We've just got to turn around and get the job done at home."
1. A LITTLE TOO DEFENSIVE
The Lightning took a 2-1 lead into the third period, their record, as mentioned above, near perfect this season when up entering the third.
Their ability to close out games is a result of an emphasis on defending while taking advantage of offensive opportunities when they present themselves. The Lightning don't want to play safe with the lead. But they want to play controlled while also not taking their foot off the gas, being smart about when they take their chances for offense.
In Game 6, however, the Lightning were a little too passive, and it ended up costing them.
The Bolts were stuck in their own end for much of the period. They couldn't sustain possession long enough to bring the puck into the offensive zone and setup chances of their own. They were constantly defending. As the period wore on, it felt like something needed to change or eventually the Bolts' bend- but-don't-break was going to break.
That change never came. The Lightning continued to defend in their own end, and, predictably, they couldn't do it the full final 20 minutes.
"They were pushing there and tying the game and after that, it's two good teams going at it," said Anthony Cirelli, who finished with a goal and an assist in Game 6. "They capitalized on their chances. Maybe we were a little on the D side and not playing too much offense. We'll watch some video. We'll dissect it and we'll be ready to go for Game 7."
The Islanders tied the game at 11:16 of the third period when Mathew Barzal found a cutting Scott Mayfield entering the right circle. Mayfield took the puck down near the goal line and unleashed a deadly accurate shot that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy over the glove, pinged off the post and in to make it 2-2.
After scoring the first two goals in Game 6, the Lightning had netted 12-straight goals in the series going back to the third period of Game 4 and including the 8-0 blowout in Game 5.
The Islanders shrugged off the Lightning's sustained stretch of domination. Eberle's goal was huge to give them a chance going into the second intermission. And they continued to keep the Bolts backpedaling in the third as they sent wave after wave at Vasilevskiy's net until they were able to level the score.
"We played a hell of a game to get up 2-0," Stamkos responded when asked if the Lightning were too defensive trying to close out the lead. "We knew they were going to push. It's two good teams going at it at the best time of the year. For the most part, I thought we played pretty solid. It's tough to say now. It's over with. We didn't get the job tonight, but we get to go back in front of our fans and get the job done there."
2. CONCERN FOR KUCHEROV
Early in Game 6, Nikita Kucherov took a hard cross-check into the rib cage area behind the play from Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield, who would go on to score the game-tying goal in the third period.
Kucherov crumpled to the ice before getting up and finishing his shift. He seemed to sustain even more damage when he went to hit Barzal against the glass and ended up getting more of the glass himself with his shoulder.
Immediately after that sequence, Kucherov went off the ice and down the tunnel to the Lightning locker room.
He never returned.
The Lightning had to play the majority of the game without the NHL's leading scorer this postseason and their main power-play weapon. They rotated a number of players onto the top line and seemed to settle on Anthony Cirelli, who performed quite well in his spot. Ondrej Palat moved to the top unit when the Lightning were on the power play much as he did during the regular season when Kucherov was out.
But not having Kucherov for nearly all of Game 6 was a major blow to the Lightning's chances.
"There's no replacing Kuch," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "He's had an unbelievable playoff for us. He's so lethal out there offensively, on the power play. We had a couple looks. I thought Pally filled in great. We had some good chances on that last power play, but, yeah, it sucks to lose Kuch like that early in the game. Guys battled. We played short the rest of the game and gave ourselves a chance to win. It didn't work out tonight, but it wasn't for lack of effort."
The cross check seems to be the play that hurt Kucherov the most. It happened right in front of an official, who either somehow didn't see it or deemed it wasn't worthy of a penalty, which is curious considering Mikhail Sergachev was whistled for a very soft interference penalty later in the game just racing to a loose puck in the corner against Barzal and gaining inside position on him to be first there.
That was considered illegal by the officials.
Cross checking someone in the ribs wasn't.
Stamkos said after the game the explanation he got from an official was the cross-check wasn't "malicious" enough to warrant a penalty.
"I cannot confirm that, so I don't know if that was said," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper added. "It'd be weird though because to say it wasn't malicious…I don't think that's in the rule book that a cross-check has to be malicious. I don't think that word's in there. But I can't confirm that was said. I just know it happened really close to one of the officials. He didn't see it. Move on."
Cooper didn't have an update on Kucherov's health following the game. It remains to be seen if he'll be available to play Game 7.
His absence in Game 6, however, was certainly felt and perhaps added to the Bolts' inability to generate much offensively in the third period with the Islanders pressing for the tying goal.
"He's obviously a big part of our team," said his linemate Brayden Point, who recorded a goal and assist in Game 6. "It's tough, but I thought for the most part we did a good job of trying to fill his shoes. Guys stepped in in different spots, and I thought they did a good job. Game came down to overtime, and they put one by us."
3. AN UNFORTUNATE TURNOVER LEADS TO DEFEAT
The Lightning came into Game 6 with the highest win percentage (.647) in NHL playoff overtime history.
The Islanders (.639) were right behind in second place.
Something had to give Wednesday.
Unfortunately, it was the Lightning, who gave the Islanders the puck in front of their net for the game-winning goal.
On the play, Blake Coleman tried to send a pass from deep in his own end to the slot area for Jan Rutta to skate out of the zone. The pass, though, was intercepted by Anthony Beauvillier at the right dot. In one quick motion before the Lightning could recover, he snapped a shot past Vasilevskiy from the hash marks to send celebratory beers raining down on the Nassau Coliseum ice as the islanders celebrated their season being saved.
"Unfortunately, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot at the end there," Cooper said.
The Lightning lost out in their bid to close down the Coliseum for good with a loss. And the Islanders weren't going to be denied after an embarrassing 8-0 loss in Game 5.
"We've clearly played the most games we have in a calendar year of any team in the league, but it's prepared us for times like this or it should have," Cooper said. "I know it wasn't an elimination game for us, but we lost games last year where we could have knocked a team out and didn't and then we had to do it the next game. And so, you kind of treat it like that. We had put ourselves in an opportunity to knock them out tonight, and we didn't. And, fortunately, we have another opportunity. We just have to take advantage of that."
The Lightning are facing elimination for the first time since Game 4 of the 2019 First Round series against Columbus. Tampa Bay has won six playoff series in a row since and has never been stretched beyond six games in any of them.
The Lightning will be in a Game 7 for the first time since the 2018 Eastern Conference Final versus Washington. The upcoming Game 7 will be the sixth time the Lightning have contested a Game 7 while playing in the final four round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Bolts are 2-3 in those games, including a 1-2 record under Cooper.
The Lightning are hoping that previous Game 7 experience along with their resilience in bounce-back games - they've won their last 13 games in a row coming off a loss - will be the difference on Friday.
"There's a pedigree with this group in the last two playoff tournaments," Cooper said. "These guys have not disappointed. I can't predict what the result's going to be. Both teams are going to show up and play, but this group's, as we've all watched, has been a pretty resilient group and I'd expect nothing less two nights from now."