Burns: Three Things we learned from downing the Devils

For 30 minutes, the Tampa Bay Lightning looked listless and lethargic against a New Jersey team that's proven to be tougher than its record would indicate.
But a quick-strike Lightning attack changed the tenor of the game, and the Bolts pulled away in the third for a 6-3 victory in their final game before what is technically still considered their Olympic break.

Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn scored back-to-back goals 41 seconds apart late in the final stages of the second period to level the score 3-3 heading into the final frame. Then Tampa Bay took complete control in the third, netting three goals in a 3:04 span to exert their will on the upstart Devils.
The Bolts tallied five unanswered goals to close out the game after falling behind 3-1.
Tampa Bay scored at least six goals in a game for the eighth time this season. Only two teams have recorded more: Colorado (10) and Carolina (9).
The Lightning reached 70 points on the season following the victory. With eight days until their next game, they head into their break tied with Pittsburgh as the top team in the Eastern Conference and tied for second overall in the NHL standings.

1. A PERIOD TO FORGET ABOUT
The schedule in February has not been kind to the Lightning.
They have gotten a lot of rest, which will be key for this team heading down the stretch of the regular season and into what is hoped to be a long postseason.
But the infrequent games and the stop-start nature of the schedule currently isn't conducive to consistent play from the Bolts.
They experienced this again in the first period in New jersey.
Much like the Colorado game five nights earlier, the Lightning had trouble finding their game in the first period, and it led to a deficit following 20 minutes of play. Dawson Mercer scored first in the contest, centering a pass in front that Erik Cernak, who returned to the lineup after missing nine games with a lower-body injury, had trouble handling, the puck ending up in the back of the net for a 1-0 New Jersey lead 8:27 into the contest.
The Lightning answered almost immediately, Pat Maroon firing past Devils goalie Jon Gillies from the slot 38 seconds after Mercer's game-opening goal to level the score 1-1. But New Jersey went back in front late in the first, Yegor Sharangovich connecting on a power play with 56 seconds left in the period to give the Devils a 2-1 lead entering the first intermission.
"We're out of rhythm," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "We have a break, we come back and play back-to-back. We have another three days off. It's been kind of just a different beast for us the last week and a half."
New Jersey pushed its lead to 3-1 just 1:48 into the second period when a turnover in the Lightning zone led to a chance all alone for Jack Hughes, who was stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy on his initial attempt but backhanded the rebound in to put the Devils up by two.
That would be their final tally of the game.
It was at that point the Lightning finally woke up, found their game and started the comeback.
"The first period, I don't really want to think about that one," Cooper said. "They got that third one, and I think, oddly enough, that's when our game started to pick up. And then we get those two quick ones, now we've got life. But I didn't mind our second period. That first one, it was tough turnovers by us. But I think we started gaining control of our game after they scored that third one and I liked the way we played down the stretch."

2. LIGHTNING STRIKES
New Jersey had to be feeling pretty good about itself by the midpoint of Tuesday's game.
The Devils had a 3-1 lead over the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions and were halfway home to taking two of three in the regular season series with the Bolts.
But this Lightning team has proven over the years it has a quick-strike capability that can change a game in the blink of an eye.
The Devils got a taste of that on Tuesday.
The Lightning got better as the second period went along, and, at 15:32, were rewarded when Steven Stamkos won a face-off in the offensive zone, found a soft spot in the high slot and then fired a shot past Gillies once Nikita Kucherov was able to find him with the pass.
That goal got the Lightning to within one trailing 3-2.
Just 41 seconds later, the Bolts tied the game 3-3. Mikhail Sergachev took a shot from the point that Alex Killorn was able to tip in front, leveling the score and making it anybody's game as the team's entered the locker room for the second intermission.
"It was 20 minutes where we didn't play the right way, we turned over the puck and we just gave them freebies," Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. "They're a good team. They have good, talented kids. If you give them momentum by doing that in the bad areas, they're going to make you pay the price. But if we put the puck deep and forecheck the way we know how to do, we're going to win the puck back and eventually that puck's going to go in."
After a slow start, the Lightning got back to their game in the second period, and their quick-strike offense demoralized a Devils team that had to like the way it was playing but headed to the second intermission in a tie game.

3. LINE SWITCHING CREATES A SPARK
After their listless opening period, Jon Cooper decided to mix up his lines, putting Steven Stamkos on the top group with Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov in an effort to change momentum in the game. Ondrej Palat joined New Jersey native Ross Colton and Mathieu Joseph. Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli added Taylor Raddysh to their group.
And although the tactic didn't immediately pay dividends, eventually the revamped lines started to wear down the Devils and allowed the Lightning to take over the game in the third.
"Sometimes, you need to move things around a little bit," Cooper said. "Hopefully it's not an everyday thing, but it gave us a boost tonight and we'll take it."
The one line that remained the same for the Lightning was the School Bus Line of Pat Maroon, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Corey Perry. Maroon was able to net Tampa Bay's lone tally in the opening period, and that trio continued to play well despite the rest of the team's struggles.
"They're three vets, right? They've been in this league," Cooper said. "They know how to navigate their way around. Let's be honest, we had a dreadful first period, but Patty gets us that first one. I thought they were guys that knew we weren't playing that well and kept their game simple, and I think we all followed suit. That was good on them."
The School Bus Line continued to have success beyond the first period. Victor Hedman's game-winning goal at 7:17 of the third period was set up by Perry and Bellemare.
And Bellemare tapped home a loose puck in the blue paint for the Bolts' sixth goal on a play that was nearly the 400th career goal of Perry, who slipped a shot behind the Devils goalie but watched as it trickled along the goal line but not over it.
Bellemare swooped in to push it home and cap the Bolts' onslaught of five unanswered goals after going down 3-1.
The Lightning's revamped lines are unlikely to stick going forward. But it's nice for the coaching staff to know they can try different combinations in a game that might be useful at a later date this season.