Burns: 3 Things we learned from a hard-fought loss to the Devils

If the postseason were to begin today, the New Jersey Devils would be the first-round opponent of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
That's certainly not welcome news from the Lightning, who were swept by the Devils in the regular season following Saturday's 2-1 loss in New Jersey.

Tampa Bay fell behind 2-0 after two periods but closed the gap on Ondrej Palat's power play goal 4:22 into the third. The Lightning dominated the final 20 minutes, outshooting the Devils 12-7, but couldn't crack the Devils' stingy defense and goalie Keith Kinkaid, who made 35-of-36 saves.
The Lightning saw their five-game road win streak come to an end. They'll also have to wait another game to potentially tie the franchise record for most points in a season of 108 set by the 2014-15 team.
The current squad has an Eastern Conference-leading 106 points with a 51-20-4 record.
How were the Lightning, who scored seven times in a one-goal victory over the Islanders on Thursday, unable to find the back of the net with regularity again in New Jersey?
We'll take a closer look in Three Things we learned from a loss in New Jersey.

1. ACTIVE STICKS
Tampa Bay's inability to score wasn't from lack of trying.
The Lightning had 70 shots attempts and 36 shots on goal, above their average of 32.6 shots per game. By contrast, New Jersey had just 49 shot attempts.
But every time the Bolts seemed to have a good look at goal, the Devils were there to get a skate or body part in the way and they deflected a number of shots away from the target with active sticks.
"Those are the bounces you work for," Lightning forward Chris Kunitz surmised from his locker room stall following the game. "When you're rolling as a team, it seems like those bounces are getting to the net or finding someone else's stick rather than going out of the play. Sometimes you've just got to work through it. We were kind of slow to start. We got a few shifts in the first that we put pucks there and had some zone time and created some momentum. But they're a desperate team. They're fighting every day just to get into the playoffs. We have to be able to match that urgency to be able to play with a team that's flying as high as they are right now."
The Lightning too didn't help their cause either with too many one and done possessions in the zone. Over the first two periods, they had difficulty entering the offensive zone smoothly and uninterrupted. When they were able to get it in, the result was nearly always one shot and back out.
The Bolts couldn't sustain any rhythm offensively until the third period. By then, they were already down 2-0, and the Devils shut it down defensively to keep Tampa Bay from leveling the score.
"It was a good hard-fought game," Lightning forward J.T. Miller said. "Both teams battled playoff style. Fans were into it. I thought we had a lot of looks. In the third, they just kind of packed in. We had some good zone time, but we just didn't get enough out of our looks."

2. THIRD-PERIOD DOMINATION
For two periods, the Lightning were unable to solve the Devils' defense or Kinkaid.
But after a good start to the third, one got the sense the Bolts just needed that little spark to get them going.
Palat provided it with his power-play goal, the forward scoring for the first time since returning from a lower-body injury that kept him out of 26 games and the ninth time this season.
The Lightning built off the momentum from Palat's goal and kept the pressure on the Devils' net. They had good offensive zone time. They cycled the puck along the boards to keep the puck alive and try to find something they could get through on goal.
The Bolts nearly leveled the score late in the game when a cross-ice pass found the tape of Ryan McDonagh on the back post along the goal line. Kinkaid quickly slid over to try to get his stick in the way, and that little bit of obstacle for McDonagh to have to shoot around caused him to put his shot off the post, the Lightning's last Grade-A chance to score going by the wayside.
"Funny how the game works," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper remarked. "Last game, we put up seven and the next game you put up one. You could sit here and argue we might have had some better looks tonight than we did the other night. It happens."

3. VASILEVSKIY RETURNS TO FORM
The last few outings have been a rough go for Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Over his last seven starts, Vasilevskiy gave up an average of 4.43 goals per game. He also went 5-2-0 over those seven, the Lightning offense picking him up when he wasn't as his best.
On Saturday, Vasilevskiy was as sharp as he's been in some time, giving up just two goals and making 29 save. But he still was saddled with the loss. New Jersey got on the scoreboard at 17:51 of the opening period when Nico Hischier backhanded a rebound from his knees into an open net after Vasilevskiy made an initial tough save but couldn't corral the puck. The Devils extended their lead to 2-0 at 10:59 of the second when Kyle Palmieri got free in the high slot and unleashed an accurate shot to the top corner of the goal, a snipe Vasilevskiy couldn't do much about.
"They capitalized on a rebound that kind of squirted out, and a goal scorer made a goal-scorers move," Cooper lamented.
Vasilevskiy gave up two goals or less for the first time since making 32-of-34 saves on February 28 versus Buffalo. He lost that game too, albeit in overtime as the Bolts were able to at least secure one point.
That's life as a goaltender apparently. You give up six goals in one game and still earn the win because your team scored seven goals. Then when you hold your next opponent to two goals, you get dealt a loss because the opposition's goalie is having an even better night.
"It was a game of who was going to get the break in the end," Cooper said. "Ultimately, it went what it was. They got that two-goal lead. They defend pretty well. We tried to get inside. We had our chances. We had a couple good looks, and they just didn't go in."