Burns: 3 Things we learned from taking a 3-1 series lead

The Tampa Bay Lightning are one game away from slaying the dragon that ended their storied season so abruptly last playoffs.

The Lightning seized control of their First Round series against Columbus in Game 4 Monday, breaking out to a 2-0 advantage and holding on to defeat the Blue Jackets 2-1 and take a commanding three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series.

After a scoreless opening period, the Lightning got on the board quickly in the second, Barclay Goodrow scoring 16 seconds into the middle frame for his first postseason goal with the Bolts, who opened scoring for the third time in the four games so far in the series.

Yanni Gourde got a tip on Kevin Shattenkirk's blast from the top of the right circle to put the Lightning ahead 2-0 a little less than four minutes later.

Cam Atkinson bodied a shot over Andrei Vasilevskiy soon after to put Columbus on the board, but the Lightning again clamped down defensively over the final 30 or so minutes to see the victory through to the finish line.

The Bolts can close out the Blue Jackets as early as Wednesday in Game 5 from Toronto's Scotiabank Arena (12 p.m. puck drop).

And then, maybe, hopefully, they can finally put last season's playoff disappointment to rest permanently.

1. TRIPLETS 2.0
Through the first three games of the Tampa Bay-Columbus series, the Barclay Goodrow, Yanni Gourde and Blake Coleman line combination may not have been the highest point producers for the Lightning, but they certainly were the line making the greatest impact in the games.

Their ability to cause havoc with the forecheck, to create chaos in front of the Columbus net, to harass their opponent all over the ice and force them into a mistake was one of the main reasons the Lightning were up 2-1 in the series heading into Game 4.

On Monday, their tenacity was rewarded with a pair goals, the trio providing the Lightning with the lift they would need to take a hold of the series and bring them within one game of closing the Blue Jackets out.

"They're like gnats," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper called them affectionately after the game. "I feel like they're always just buzzing around, and when you try to knock them away, they just never leave. They're pests. They put work ethic above everything else. They're selfless players, and they don't have an off switch."

In Game 4, they became the new version of the Triplets Line (Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov) that drove the offense for the Lightning during their run to the Stanley Cup in 2015.

Call them Triplets 2.0.

"I think we're all relatively similar players," Goodrow said. "We're not the fanciest players. We like to work off the forecheck, get pucks in and be responsible out there. I think we've just been able to read off each other, and we've found a little chemistry here."

A little chemistry is an understatement. The Goodrow-Gourde-Coleman combination has been the major difference for the Lightning in the First Round.

"When you go through playoffs, usually lines cancel each other out and you look for that 'third line' to make a difference," Cooper said. "They have definitely done that. There's still a lot of series left, but we wouldn't be in the situation we're in right now without those guys."

Coleman and Goodrow connected in the opening seconds of the second period to allow the Lightning to play with the lead for the remainder of the contest. Like they've done so often in the series, their shift started by sending a puck in deep from the center line. Coleman beat his man down the ice to slide the puck to Gourde behind the Blue Jackets net. The puck slipped out to the side of the net, where Coleman threaded a pass through the blue paint onto the opposite post for Goodrow, who one-timed a looping shot over an outstretched Joonas Korpisalo.

"We take a lot of pride in that first shift," Gourde said. "I think we know what we need to do, we need to chip the puck in and use our best asset which is the forecheck. We just go out there on the first shift and try to do that, set the tone for the period or the game, and I think we keep it pretty simple."

A few minutes later, Coleman took a pass from Victor Hedman into the zone and stepped around Zach Werenski in front of him. He backhanded a puck toward the front of the net, which popped out to Goodrow at the bottom of the right circle. Goodrow fed Shattenkirk for a one-time blast at the top of the same circle, which Gourde got a piece of at the net to make it 2-0 Lightning.

"Their effort and their play bleeds into our team," Shattenkirk said. "They start every period, every game, and I think the key is that they haven't strayed. They realize what makes them good, and they realize what makes their line successful and what works. The fact that they've started to see some success and they haven't started to cheat for any offense, they stick with the game plan. They realize that they're just a really annoying line and a tough line to play against. They're always in guys' faces and over top and they don't really give you a lot of room. So, for us they're definitely a line that energizes us."

They're also a line that's been a difference maker in the series for the Bolts.

2. WHO'S THE HARD-WORKING TEAM?
Coming into the First Round, Columbus was touted as the hard-working, blue-collar group that never takes a night off and knows how to put together a full 60-minute effort to bludgeon opponents.

The Lightning were regarded as the speed and skill unit that can strike at any time but maybe didn't have the toughness or the fortitude to make an extended run.

Four games into the series, the Bolts have shifted that narrative.

Yet again, the Lightning proved they can play the hard-working, defensive-minded style of hockey that's proven to be successful in the playoffs once goals become a premium. The Lightning were the highest-scoring team in the NHL during the regular season at 3.5 goals per game.

This postseason, they haven't scored more than three goals in a game, but they're 5-2 so far and 3-1 in the First Round against a Columbus team that's regarded as maybe the most blue collar of them all.

"Whenever you go up against a team, you don't want to be looked at as a team that doesn't work as hard," Goodrow said. "I think we take a lot of pride in how hard we work, the stuff we do on the ice. There's a lot of hard work in there. We've done a good job this series so far of kind of playing our game."

What the Lightning's game has been this postseason is replicating the one they used to go 23-2-1 from late December to the middle of February when they won 10 games in a row and then a franchise record 11 games in a row.

They're placing a premium on protecting their own net. Cooper said after the marathon five overtime win he implored his team at each break not to sacrifice defense for offense.

His group has responded to that message. The Lightning have rarely made a risky play this series in search of a goal, a play that put lead to a rush on the counter if the attempt is unsuccessful.

They're staying on the right side of the puck. Their coverage in the defensive zone, other than moments in Game 2, has been well thought out. They're bottling Columbus in the neutral zone. And they're managing the puck smartly, which has allowed them to possess it for long stretches in the offensive zone while also negating the Blue Jackets' ability to play offense early in a shift but later when they're tired and need a change.

The Lightning are taking their cues from the Gourde line on how to work hard to be successful, and it's working so far in the series.

"I think a lot of people had preconceived notions of what each team was like just based on what happened last year. We've always said, we're not the same team we were last year," said Shattenkirk, one of those players not on last year's team. "We added a few pieces at the deadline who really kind of bring that lunch pail mentality, put our heads down and go to work. I think anyone who knows our team well knows we've been working hard all year. When you look at those win streaks we had, we were doing it the right way. It wasn't just speed and skill. So, I think Columbus is a hard-working team and a team we knew we were going to have to match in that area. And if we didn't we would probably be in a tough spot right now. We rely on our hard work first and then our skill comes as an added bonus afterwards."

Right now, the Lightning are outworking the hard-working team.

And opponents have a new narrative to worry about when playing the Bolts.

3. ASSISTS TO KIRWAN, GARLOCK
Tampa Bay expected a push from Columbus at the start of Game 4 with the Blue Jackets down 2-1 in the series and unhappy about the way they finished Game 3.

It was important for the Lightning to weather the early storm Columbus produced and push back once they were able to settle into the game.

But they owe a big thanks to their coaching staff behind the scenes, video coach Nigel Kirwan and video coordinator Brian Garlock, for keeping the Blue Jackets off the scoreboard as well.

Just 1:52 into the first period, Oliver Bjorkstrand thought he'd put Columbus in front early on his rebound of Werenski's saved shot.

The Lightning coaching staff, alerted by Kirwan and Garlock to a potential missed offside earlier on the scoring play, challenged the goal, their first challenge of the playoffs. Kirwan and Garlock work in a back room of the locker area where they have multiple televisions set up with different camera feeds from throughout the arena. When they detect a play that needs to be challenged, they alert the bench using an earpiece in the coaches' ear.

Upon replay of Bjorkstrand's goal, it became clear Alexandre Texier was offside prior to the puck fully entering the zone, negating the goal. The review was quick, and the call was no goal.

The score remained 0-0. Columbus kept pushing and earned a power play later in the first, but the Lightning were able to repel that attempt too. Once the opening period kept progressing and the Blue Jackets were unable to find a way past Vasilevskiy, the Lightning were able to get into the game and start to take control.

"I think the adjustment that they made was they were a lot tighter and playing in our faces tonight," Shattenkirk said of what Columbus did differently to start Game 4. "I think their D gapped really well where in the first three games they seemed to sag back and kind of absorb our speed. I think tonight they were playing that press-up game early. And it was an adjustment for us. That's what happens in long games, long series. Teams make adjustments and try to change their game to see if it works for them, and it took us a little time to realize that, put pucks behind them and then obviously when we came out in the second period, Gourde's line did a great job of putting the puck in and going to work and I think we all started to feed off of that."

Game 4 probably has a different result if Columbus' early goal stands, and the Lightning have to chase the game.

It takes an entire team to advance in the postseason, and the Lightning went deep down their roster to get a key contribution from Kirwan and Garlock that proved to be a turning point in Game 4.