Burns: Three Things we learned from beating the Blackhawks

The Tampa Bay Lightning began their longest road trip of the season Sunday, six games over 11 days starting in Chicago and with stops throughout western Canada and a first-ever trip to Seattle.
Thankfully, the Lightning remembered to pack Andrei Vasilevskiy for the lengthy journey.
Vasilevskiy played maybe his best game of the season, despite giving up three goals on 27 shots. The Big Cat made several robberies of Chicago chances, keeping the Lightning in the contest until they could get their game going in the second and third periods.
There, the Bolts scored five consecutive goals, including three in a 32-second span early in the third period, to win going away 6-3.

Tampa Bay extended its point streak in Chicago to 13 games (10-0-3) dating to April 3, 2011, the NHL's longest active road run versus one opponent.
The Lightning have won four-straight road contests, matching their longest road win streak of the season (also: 4-0-0 from Dec. 4-9). They remain the second-best road team in the NHL, their .704 road point percentage ranking just behind Pittsburgh (.724) in the League standings.
The Bolts will go for a season-long five-straight road wins when they travel to Winnipeg to take on the Jets Tuesday from Canada Life Centre.
Here's how they were able to start the road trip off on the right foot after doubling up the Blackhawks.

1. A MORE AERODYNAMIC BIG CAT
Following a 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in which he surrendered four goals on 39 shots to end a four-game win streak, Andrei Vasilevskiy came to the rink the next day with a new-look hairdo, lopping his long locks off in favor or a sleeker, trimmer look.
The more aerodynamic Vasilevskiy then went out his next start and turned in the performance of the season.
Vasilevskiy made no less than four save-of-the-year-type stops against Chicago to allow the Lightning to overcome a sluggish start and post another victory against the Blackhawks.
Tampa Bay trailed 1-0 after one period on Dylan Strome's 12th goal of the season at 7:51, but the deficit could have been 4-0 or 5-0 according to defenseman Victor Hedman if not for Vasilevskiy. His most impressive save of the period came off a rush chance for the Blackhawks, Brandon Hagel feeding off to his left for a wide-open Kirby Dach at the bottom of the left circle. Dach had a lot of empty net to look at for his one-timer, but Vasilevskiy slid over to deny the shot by getting the upper shaft of his stick on the shot, knocking it up and over the goal.
"We've got to wake up in the first period," Hedman said. "I don't know what's going on, but we've got to have better starts."
Vasilevskiy made three similar saves in the first period -- sliding over to deny back-post one-timers on rush chances -- to keep the deficit at one and the Lightning within striking distance.
"That was one of the more remarkable goalie performances I've seen in a long time," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "There's making big saves, but if you watch the highlights tonight, you could just show the saves he made. So that's what kept us in it, and then our work ethic was what propelled us to win it. We didn't have that going at all in the first period."
Later in the game with the Lightning well in front 6-2, Vasilevskiy put up another candidate for save of the year with his robbery of Patrick Kane, Vasy stretching out far to his left to flash the glove and nab Kane's one-timer from down low just before it crossed the line.
"It wasn't me shooting. It was a Hall of Famer shooting the puck," Cooper said. "These were big-time saves. The goalie's there in the end to bail you out if you've broken down. We broke down way too often. It's happened a little bit of late in our game. You can't play perfect hockey for 82 (games). I understand that, but you're going to give some skilled players like that those chances, we're just fortunate Vas was on tonight."
Vasilevskiy leads the NHL for wins after registering his 30th of the season Sunday, the fifth-consecutive season he's put up 30-plus wins.
And he remains perfect for his regular season career versus the Blackhawks, improving to 12-0-0 all-time, one of three teams he's undefeated against along with Detroit (13-0-0) and Seattle (1-0-0).

2. THE FASTEST THREE GOALS IN LIGHTNING HISTORY
The Lightning took the lead for good with an outburst at the end of the second period, Victor Hedman and Cal Foote scoring the game-tying and go-ahead goals, respectively, 1:31 apart.
Then the Bolts completely put the game away with a flurry to start the third that had the Blackhawks looking around in disbelief and the Lightning looking at a new franchise record.
Tampa Bay scored three times in a 32-second span in the first two minutes of the third period to build its lead to an insurmountable 6-2 advantage. The three-goal flurry is a new Lightning record for the fastest three goals scored by the team, bettering the old mark of 42 seconds set previously March 11, 2008 in an 8-4 win versus the New York Islanders.
"It's crazy," Hedman said of the scoring explosion. "We're shooting pucks and good things happen. It felt quick. I didn't know it was that quick. Credit to the guys for stepping on the gas at the beginning of the third period and putting the game to bed."
The three goals in 32 seconds are tied for the 22nd-fastest three goals by a team in NHL history. Only three teams in the last 30 years have scored three goals faster than the Lightning did Sunday night in Chicago: the Penguins (0:29 on Jan. 26, 1993), the Kings (0:30 on Oct. 12, 2019) and the Islanders (0:31 on Feb. 9, 2022).
After a slow start to the game when they trailed 1-0 after one period and were completely outchanced over the first 20 minutes, the Lightning turned things around coming out for the second period. Taylor Raddysh scored a big goal at 1:09 of the period to get the Bolts on the board and tie the game. They started to take over with back-to-back goals late in the second period.
And then the third period was all Tampa Bay, three Lightning bolts bang-bang-bang in quick succession stunning the Blackhawks.
"We gathered together and talked it out a bit and they came out and played with a purpose," Cooper said of the Lightning's response to a poor first period.
Hedman said the Bolts' desperation and work ethic in the final 40 minutes were "night and day" from the opening period.
"I felt in the first period we were just waiting around, trying to, I don't know what we were thinking," he said. "We got it going. We had a good talk in between periods and could tell on the ice guys were more engaged and making better plays and smarter plays. We were skating and got our opportunities that way."

3. DEFENSEMEN ACTIVATE
Tampa Bay defensemen accounted for four of the team's six goals in Chicago and combined for eight points to lead the Lightning charge.
Victor Hedman netted his third two-goal game of the season, tying the game 2-2 with his one-timer from the high slot right after a power play expired at 15:17 of the second period and netting the game-winner to start the 32-second scoring surge at 1:51 of the third.
Hedman has 10 multi-goal games for his career. He has 13 goals now this season, tied for the third most in his career and his most since scoring a career-high 17 during his Norris Trophy season in 2017-18.
Mikhail Sergachev posted a three-point Sunday night with his goal to cap the 32-second goal explosion and two assists for his first three-point game of the season and third of his career.
And Cal Foote scored his first goal of the season (second career) and added an assist for his first career multi-point game.
"Coaches want our D active," Foote said. "We always want to be jumping up into the play, joining the rush. Even in the offensive zone, adding to our shot-scramble game. Any time you can get the back end to add to the offense, it's pretty nice."
Two nights earlier against Detroit, Sergachev scored the game-winning goal on a power play midway through the third period in a 3-1 Lightning victory. The defensemen had their fingerprints all over that win as well, Hedman registering an assist on all three goals, each one scored on the power play, to rebound from a dismal loss to the Penguins on Thursday.
"I think we shot the puck a lot more the last two games," Hedman said of the engaged defensemen offensively of late. "Against Pittsburgh, we didn't have a whole lot of shots, especially in the first two periods. That showed in our game too, it's not just goals and stuff like that, it just creates second and third opportunities and that's when we get rolling in the offensive zone, we find open seams and can make plays. We try to utilize this as much as we can but sometimes it's a grind and sometimes you can't get those shots through. When we do, we're a tough team to play against in the O-zone."
Cooper said an active defense corps is a key to Tampa Bay's success, historically and currently. It's an encouraging sign to see that unit buzzing of late offensively.
"They're a big part of how we do things, especially with some of the guys we have back there," Cooper said. "We need them for that. You can tell a little bit of the tale of how our game's going with how involved our D is. It doesn't mean they have to get a point every night, but usually they're around it or a lot of their shot volume is leading the goals for us. I'm glad to see those guys get rewarded."