Burns: 3 Things we learned from steamrolling the Panthers

The situation appeared bleak for the Tampa Bay Lightning entering a rematch against the Florida Panthers Saturday in Sunrise.
Two nights earlier, the Panthers humbled the Lightning in a showdown between the top two teams in the Central Division, Florida jumping all over the defending Stanley Cup champions early and unrelenting in a 5-2 win.
Prior to Saturday's second of three-straight games between the two teams, the Lightning learned standout two-way center Anthony Cirelli would be sidelined week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Captain Steven Stamkos would almost miss the rematch as he was placed on the NHL's unable to participate due to COVID protocol list and was dealing with his own lower-body injury.
But facing their most adversity to date in the young season, the Lightning responded with quite possibly their finest performance so far in a 6-1 rout of the Panthers.

Tampa Bay netted four-consecutive goals in the second period to take complete control of the contest. Tyler Johnson scored a pair of goals. Alexander Volkov potted his first in the NHL in the third period. And Gemel Smith, up from the taxi squad and in the lineup because of the injuries, tallied two assists in his first game since October 6, 2019.
Tampa Bay and Florida will play the rubber match of the three-game mini-series Monday at AMALIE Arena, the winner gaining a leg up in the Central standings and bragging rights until the next time they meet.
For one night at least, the Lightning showed the Panthers they're still the team to beat in the division.

1. NEXT MAN UP
The Lightning knew they would be without Steven Stamkos Saturday when he was placed on the NHL's COVID list Friday evening.
They learned before the game Anthony Cirelli would be lost for some time from the upper-body injury he sustained in Thursday's loss at Florida.
And yet, despite missing two key pieces of the team, indispensable pieces, the Lightning delivered one of their most complete wins of the season, and it was the players who filled in without Stamkos and Cirelli that sparked the performance.
Gemel Smith hadn't played a NHL game since the third game of last season October 6, 2019. He was brought up from AHL Syracuse for the restart training camp prior to the 2020 Playoffs but didn't join the team in the Toronto and Edmonton bubbles despite earning praise from coaches and teammates during a strong two-week showing.
Smith has been with the Lightning taxi squad since the start of the current season, working doggedly to be prepared for his opportunity but not knowing when that opportunity might arise.
It came Saturday.
He was more than ready.
With the Lightning up 2-0 in the second period and pushing to take complete command, Smith impacted the game. He had possession inside the offensive zone but lost the puck along the wall. He stuck with the play though and took the puck off the stick of Carter Verhaeghe.
Smith carried below the goal line, spotted Tyler Johnson skating into the lower right circle and delivered a pass in front for Johnson to one-time home.
The goal was a microcosm of Smith's work ethic while waiting his turn: keep grinding, keep persevering, the reward will come eventually.
"Gemel, he had an unbelievable game, but we see him working hard in practice all the time, whether it's in our scrimmages or just normal practices," Johnson said. "He's a skilled guy. He's a big body. When he has the puck on his stick, he makes things happen. Him coming in and doing as well as he did, it's awesome to see, and I thought he had a terrific game today."
Smith wasn't done, however.
Florida got on the board midway through the third period on Frank Vatrano's second goal in two games to give the Panthers a brief glimmer of hope.
Smith and Alex Volkov combined to snuff it almost immediately.
Volkov poked a puck through a body along the wall, and Smith hopped onto it behind everyone to start an odd-man rush. Volkov jumped into the play, and Smith found him on the opposite post for the Russian's first career NHL goal and a 5-1 Lightning lead.
"I thought he had an unreal game tonight after not playing like that in almost a year," Mathieu Joseph said of Smith's two-assist night, the 26 year old's first multi-point game since November 4, 2017 while with Dallas. "Definitely one of the big reasons we had success tonight."
Volkov, too was another player who saw increased minutes with Stamkos and Cirelli injured and took full advantage of his opportunity.
"You know what I liked about Volkov's goal? He earned it, and he earned it from the defensive zone all the way to the offensive zone," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "He had a streaking Smith down there and makes a nice chip to him and then gets on his horse and creates kind of a 2-on-2 into a 2-on-1 and then buries it. And then he buries it against somebody he's probably looked up to as a goaltender, countryman [in Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky]. I think that's a pretty big thrill if you throw everything into it. Volky's another guy too, you look back in the bubble and he gamed it out for 64 days and on day 65 or whatever it was, he got his chance. Takes a little resiliency there to hang in, and he was rewarded tonight."

2. PENALTY KILL BAILS OUT THE BOLTS
After getting overwhelmed early and unable to recover in Thursday's loss, the Lightning certainly didn't want to surrender the opening goal in Saturday's rematch and have to chase the game again.
But they were staring directly at that possibility when Victor Hedman was sent to the box for four minutes on a double minor high-sticking call, giving Florida's top-ranked power play, which had connected on 36.7 percent of its opportunities entering Saturday's game, an extended look.
Tampa Bay's penalty kill has been improving with each contest, however, and provided the first big lift for the Bolts on Saturday.
The Lightning killed the first half of the double minor comfortably, despite one of their top penalty killers in Hedman sitting in the box. Florida was able to apply more pressure over the back half of the second minor against a worn-down penalty kill, but the group defended desperately to hold the Panthers off the board and keep the game even.
"It was huge," Cooper said of the early double kill. "Just the way we did it too. Four minutes, I don't think they had anything brewing for three-quarters of it, and then one stretch we got out there we were a little tired. But to get us through that, we didn't want to be chasing the game again. When we did break down, Vasy was there. But that was a huge kill."
Florida had four power plays total but couldn't connect on any of them. Tampa Bay's penalty kill was the difference in the game early, allowing the Lightning to grab the first goal, take charge of the game and then take over.
Don't forget about Andrei Vasilevskiy either. The Lightning netminder had to make a couple difficult saves on the penalty kill but made them look routine. Vasilevskiy was in command all night, frustrating the Panthers, particularly Anthony Duclair who had two prime scoring opportunities but was denied each time by the Big Cat.
Vasilevskiy had 33 saves on 34 shots. He's given up one goal in four of his last five starts and improved to 9-2-1 on the season.

3. TYLER JOHNSON DELIVERS THE KNOCKOUT BLOW
Lightning forward Tyler Johnson hadn't recorded a point in four games entering Saturday's contest and hadn't scored a goal in his last six, but with the Bolts needing multiple players to fill the void left by the injuries to Stamkos and Cirelli, Johnson was one of the many who delivered.
Johnson scored a pair of goals back-to-back in the latter half of the second period that turned a good start into a rout.
Matheiu Joseph blocked a shot at his own blue line, turned it into a breakaway and scored five hole on Bobrovsky to put the Lightning up 2-0.
The Bolts pressed determinedly for more.
Now full of confidence, they generated wave after wave of scoring opportunities with the two-goal lead. Tampa Bay's persistence paid off at 12:58 of the period when Smith set up Johnson in the right circle for a 3-0 lead.
The goal had to feel satisfying for Johnson, considering his scoring drought entering the contest and a golden chance to score earlier in the game was squandered when a rolling puck hopped off his stick.
"He's back in the middle. His role gets a little bit bigger," Cooper said of Johnson's move to center Saturday. "It was tough because that puck rolled over his stick on the power play early. You hope it doesn't affect him, but he just kept coming at it. We've been running a few different guys on the line with Volky and Smitty, and Johnny gets his opportunity there and heck of a shot."
Seconds before the second intermission, Johnson delivered the dagger.
The Lightning were shooting and searching for rebounds and retrieving pucks with regularity by this point of the period. A shot by Jan Rutta was retrieved by Johnson and sent back to the point. Rutta dished to the high slot to Point, who gave it back to Rutta.
Rutta shot again, and this time the puck caromed off Ondrej Palat's skate and came right to Johnson, who quickly shoveled a backhanded shot over Bobrovsky from the side of the net to make it 4-0 Lightning.
The goal came with 12 seconds left on the clock.
Florida would never recover from the four-goal onslaught in the second period.
"I thought his goal on the second goal, the 4-0 goal, that was a big one to score late in the period," Cooper said. "It was probably the (one to) pop their balloon. But again, there's more to their roles and the guys delivered. Johnny was one of them."