Burns: 3 Things from another win in Vancouver

The Tampa Bay Lightning held a comfortable 3-0 lead in Vancouver as the clock neared the midpoint of the third period.
Or so the Lightning thought.
Vancouver scored a pair of goals 4:30 apart to get back in the game and force the Bolts to sweat out the final few minutes.
Cory Conacher spoiled the Canucks' comeback, however, becoming the first Lightning player this season to convert a penalty shot to secure a 4-2 victory, the Bolts' fifth in their last six games.

Tampa Bay heads to Edmonton Monday with a chance to close out its eight-game stretch away from AMALIE Arena with six victories, what would be a phenomenal accomplishment over arguably the toughest stretch of the schedule.
In the locker room following the game, the Lightning sounded like a team on the wrong end of Saturday's 4-2 result.
What led to their displeasure? And were they being too hard on themselves?
We'll take a closer look in Three Things we learned from holding on in Vancouver.

1. 5-ON-3 KILL CRITICAL TO WIN
Up 3-0 heading into the final period, the Lightning were forced to kill off a 5-on-3 power play for 1:50 to start the third.
Two games earlier in Winnipeg, the Jets benefitted from a two-man advantage to rally from a 1-0 deficit and take control of a game they would eventually win over the Lightning.
The Bolts made sure history didn't repeat itself.
Andrei Vasilevskiy proved a formidable obstacle for the Canucks to shoot past. And the trio of Lightning penalty killers, led by Ryan Callahan, scrambled to block all shooting lanes and were opportunistic with their chances to disrupt.
In one sequence at the end of the two-man advantage, Callahan slid down onto the ice to block Brock Boeser's shot. Boeser faked the shot and tried to move around the fallen Callahan, but the veteran swept his stick at Boeser while lying on his back to knock the puck away from danger.
The Lightning penalty kill has been an enigma to this point in the season. A unit that was one of the league's best through the first couple months has been frustratingly inconsistent since.
The Bolts had given up a power-play goal in four-straight games heading into Vancouver.
The penalty kill, however, was more disruptive on Saturday and went 4-for-4, highlighted by a critical kill to start the third that kept the Canucks from swinging momentum their way.

2. LATE-GAME SWOON
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper was upset with the way his squad closed out a 7-4 victory in Calgary two nights prior to the Vancouver game, the Bolts giving up a plethora of great scoring chances after building a comfortable three-goal cushion and making Vasilevskiy work harder than he should have to.
Unfortunately, those same issues were prevalent in the win over Vancouver as well.
The Lightning should have been able to cruise to a victory after killing off that early third period 5-on-3.
But the Bolts didn't manage the game properly down the stretch. They turned the puck over too much and were unable to keep possession in the offensive zone, allowing Vancouver to ratchet up the pressure on Vasilevskiy's net.
Thomas Vanek finally broke through with 10 minutes to go, and Boeser scored 4:30 later to make it a one-goal game.
"I think the third period is not good enough," Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman said. "We talked before the game about eliminating scoring chances against, and I think close to 17 shots and Vasy bailed us out once again so we've got to make sure that we play a full 60. Started well obviously, to have a 3-0 lead going into the third and kill off a 5-on-3, that should give us the momentum. But it kind of turned the other way. We've got to make sure we get better here. Obviously happy with the two points but we've got to play a full 60 in the next game for sure to play the right way for the rest of this trip."
Cory Conacher was high-sticked on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot, which he converted 2:06 after the Canucks got to within one.
That goal essentially iced the game for the Lightning.
But it should have never gotten to that point.

3. VASILEVSKIY SAVES HIS BEST FOR LAST
Andrei Vasilevskiy had a shutout going through two periods but gave up two goals in the third.
Yet, the final period was his best of the night, despite getting beat twice.
Vancouver took 16 shots through the first two periods combined. In the third, they put up 17 shots, many of them dangerous.
Vasilevskiy was up to the task throughout the barrage.
"He's been our best player the whole year," Hedman said. "He's been phenomenal and keeping us in games we don't really deserve. He's a game changer that's for sure, and he's been playing like this the whole season. He's still a young kid so he had a little bit of a stretch there, two or three games where pucks were going in. But he's the biggest competitor on this team and competes really hard at practice and in games. We owe it to him to play better over 60 minutes. But he's undoubtedly been our most complete player all year."
Vasilevskiy's brilliance was on full display on Bo Horvat's breakaway about 7:30 into the final period. Horvat got behind the Lightning defense and was skating in all alone on Vasilevskiy. The Canucks forward tried to fake to his right and bring the puck back to this left, but Vasilevskiy snuffed out the chance with his quick reaction right leg save to keep his shutout intact for the time being.
Sure, Vasilevskiy surrendered a pair of goals. But the way the Canucks were playing in the third, the Lightning are fortunate not to have given up even more.
For that, they have Vasilevskiy to thank.