Burns: 3 Things from a shootout win in Montreal

Tampa Bay didn't play its best game at Montreal's Bell Centre Saturday.
Defensive lapses, untimely turnovers, extended periods without any good scoring chances, the Lightning still had a number of issues to work through against the Canadiens.
The positive for Tampa Bay? Despite not playing their A game, the Lightning were able to exit Montreal with a 4-3 shootout victory, sweeping their three-game road trip and returning home to Tampa back in first place in the league standings.

"There's always going to be areas we need to work on but as we're working on them, we're munching up points and that's a big thing," Lightning forward Ryan Callahan said from the visitor's locker room following the win.
With Toronto downing Boston in an Atlantic Division showdown Saturday, the Lightning now hold a four-point lead over the Maple Leafs for the division lead and are five points in front of the Bruins with the Leafs coming to AMALIE Arena on Monday.
How were the Bolts able to extend their lead in the standings despite not playing their best?
We'll break down Three Things we learned from Tampa Bay's shootout victory.

1. BRAYDEN POINT IS CLUTCH
Here's a crazy stat for you.
Who had the game-winning goal in every game during the Lightning's three-game road sweep?
None other than Brayden Point, who's made a habit of finding the back of the net with the game on the line.
Point scored in regulation midway through the first period to level the score 1-1 after former Bolt Byron Froese netted the opening goal for Montreal.
And he was the lone player to convert in the shootout to earn his 10th game-winning goal of the season.
Point now is one game-winning goal off the NHL lead held by Calgary's Sean Monahan (11) and two game-winning goals from matching the Lightning franchise record for most in a season set by Steven Stamkos during the 2011-12 season.
"Brayden Point was outstanding, one of the guys who was playing responsible tonight," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said after the game.
In just his second season in the league, Point has emerged as Tampa Bay's best shootout taker. Counting Saturday's make, Point is 7-for-12 all-time in shootouts, by far the best percentage on the Lightning's current roster.
In regulation, Point had a couple of chances to score on shorthanded breakaways. He lost control of the puck on the first and wasn't able to get a shot off. Montreal goalie Antti Niemi was able to block the second one.
Given another one-on-one chance in the shootout, Point buried his opportunity to win the game.
"I felt for him, that's why I had to put him in the shootout because he'd had so many breakaways I figured one of them had to go in," Cooper said tongue-in-cheek. "So it was timely that was the one that went in."

2. THE LIGHTNING ARE ROAD WARRIORS
In Montreal, Tampa Bay completed a road stretch where 18 out of 25 games came away from AMALIE Arena.
That the Lightning remain in first place in the NHL following that difficult portion of the schedule speaks to how well they've played away from home.
Tampa Bay won its 22nd road game of the season on Saturday, matching the franchise record for most road wins in a season set in 2006-07 and 2003-04.
The Lightning still have six more road games left to play and try to grab the record outright too.
"We came on a three-game road trip and got six points, so the guys are finding a way," Cooper said. "This is a hard league to win in, it really is, and they're finding a way."
The Lightning continue to pace the NHL for road wins (22), points (46), road goals (122) and road goal differential (+28).
In their latest road victory, the Bolts trailed 3-2 entering the third period after surrendering a 2-1 lead in the second. Ryan Callahan got a tip on Nikita Kucherov's shot 2:11 into the third to convert a power play and level the score 3-3.
The Lightning controlled play throughout the remainder of the third but couldn't find a way past Niemi for the regulation winner. In overtime, Max Pacioretty got free for a breakaway chance, but Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made 29-of-32 saves to pick up his league-best 36th win of the season, didn't bite on any of Pacioretty's fakes and Pacioretty eventually lost control of the puck. Seconds later, Victor Mete set up Artturi Lehkonen for a great scoring chance. Vasilevskiy, however, slid over to make the stop.
In the shootout, Vasilevskiy again came up big, denying all three Montreal attempts while Point's conversion held up as the only one the Bolts would need.
"It wasn't perfect by any means," Steven Stamkos said. "We kind of challenged ourselves in the room to come out, have a good third and give ourselves a chance to win. It's 3-for-3 on the road. That's good. I guess at the end of the day, the good thing is that we're not even playing our best and we're going to continue to improve and get better. It's something that's positive, but there's something that we need to adjust."

3. STAMKOS IS A GODO TEAMMATE
When Montreal's Karl Alzner delivered a knee-to-knee hit at open ice to Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov, instinct took over for Lightning center Steven Stamkos.
Not knowing whether Kucherov was seriously injured or not, Stamkos immediately rushed to challenge Alzner and dropped the gloves. He was handed the first instigator penalty of his NHL career and he recorded 17 penalty minutes as a result, a Lightning season high. He had to sit and watch for 10 minutes of game action after being given a misconduct penalty.
But even though he missed a sixth of regulation time because of his reaction to the hit on Kucherov, the Lightning still received a spark from the actions of their captain.
"That's how you grow as a team," Cooper said. "There's a lot of guys that could have turned their back to that and pretended they didn't see it. Stammer right away was right there to stick up for a teammate. That's what captains do, and I was proud of him for it."
After the game, Stamkos said the play looked worse initially than it did once he saw a replay.
"I didn't catch the entire play," Stamkos said. "I was kind of watching Kuch and then I saw it looked like a knee fast and Kuch kind of held his knee so I didn't know if he was hurt or not. It was just kind of a reaction thing. I know Alzner pretty well. He's not a dirty player. I kind of dropped my gloves and grabbed him from behind. It was just a reactionary thing. I thought Kuch got hurt and it was a knee quick and after looking at it, it wasn't as malicious as maybe I thought at the time."
Whether Alzner's hit was intentional or not, he still delivered a questionable blow to one of the Lightning's most indispensable players and could have severely injured Kucherov. It was positive to see Stamkos didn't let that infraction go unpunished.
"You see your captain step up like that and a guy like Stammer who doesn't do that, doesn't need to do that, goes out of his way to stand up for a teammate, everybody on the bench gets a lift from that," Callahan said. "It just shows what kind of guy Stammer is and what kind of leader he is. We know that in here but now I think you guys get another glimpse of it. We care about each other in here, and Stammer showed that."