Burns: 3 Things we learned from a Stanley Cup Final series-opening win

As far as Stanley Cup Final opening games go, the Tampa Bay Lightning couldn't have asked for much better than their 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens Monday night at AMALIE Arena to grab a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The Lightning scored the opening goal in the first period when Erik Cernak got a deflection in the slot on Ondrej Palat's pass from the left wing, Cernak becoming the first Lightning player ever to net his first career playoff goal in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Bolts improved to 13-2 this postseason when scoring the opening goal of a game.
Yanni Gourde got a tip on a shot by Blake Coleman in the second period to extend the Lightning lead to 2-0.
Tampa Bay withstood Montreal's only real push of the game when the Canadiens broke through with 2:20 to play in the second, Habs defenseman Ben Chiarot throwing a puck toward the slot that took two deflections before finding a way past Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The Lightning didn't let that minor setback deter them.
Instead, they pressed harder in the third, exploding for three goals in the period to produce a convincing 5-1 rout.
Tampa Bay won Game 1 of a Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history, improving to 1-3 after defeats in the opening game in each of its previous three Cup Final appearances.
The Lightning also won a home series opener for the first time this postseason. They had been 0-3 coming into Game 1. 6-0 at AMALIE Arena in all other contests.
Tampa Bay will try to grab both home games to begin the series Wednesday when it hosts the Canadiens in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.
If the Lightning can put together another performance like they did to start the series, they should be well on their way.

1. THAT'S ONE OF THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD
During media day for the Stanley Cup Final on Sunday, Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov was asked if he felt any ill effects from the cross-check that sidelined him for all but 46 seconds of Game 6 and left him injured and questionable for Game 7, a contest he would skate over 16 minutes in.
"There was no injury," Kucherov replied. "I don't know what you're talking about. I felt good, and it was no question if I was going to play or not."
Maybe we should take Kucherov at his word.
The Russian winger was scintillating in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, less than a week after sustaining that brutal cross-check to the mid-section, scoring a pair of goals and helping to set up a third on the power play in a three-point night, his sixth game with three or more points this postseason.
Kucherov now has 30 points this postseason (7-23-30 pts.) and is only four points away from matching his 34-point total in the 2020 Playoffs, a franchise record for scoring in a single playoffs.
Kucherov became the fifth player in NHL history Monday to register multiple 30-point playoff seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky (6x), Mark Messier (3x), Jari Kurri (2x) and Mario Lemieux (2x).
"He's playing like a beast right now," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos surmised. "He's so good."
Kucherov's first goal shouldn't even be his goal according to him. With the Lightning holding a 2-1 lead early in the third period, Kucherov backhanded a centering feed from the right wall to the front of the net. Montreal's Chiarot was battling with Ondrej Palat in front of Habs goalie Carey Price. Chiarot tried to bat the puck away but ended up swatting it toward Palat, who seemed to get a piece of it on its path into the net.
Kucherov was credited with the goal, however, his sixth of these playoffs and first since Game 4 of the Second Round versus Carolina.
"Not much I had to do there, I was just trying to throw it on the net and see what happens," Kucherov said. "Fortunately, it was a lucky bounce for us. I thought it was Pally's goal. I hope he scores that goal. That was just something we need to do more, just throw something at the net and make some traffic there."
His second goal was more of the traditional play we're used to seeing from Kucherov. On a face-off, Brayden Point drew the puck back to him, and he wired a wrist shot from the high slot into the top right corner of the net to seal the Lightning victory, the Bolts up 4-1 with 8:35 to go at that point.
"That's one of the best players in the world shooting that puck," Stamkos said. "Coming off the face-off circle like that, we've seen that plenty of times. It was a huge goal for us, gave us some breathing room."
The Lightning tacked on a late power-play goal with 1:10 to go, Stamkos hammering a one-timer from the lower left circle. The fifth goal might not have mattered much on the scoreboard with the game well in hand, but it ended Montreal's penalty kill mystique. The Canadiens had killed off 30-straight penalties entering Game 1 - 32 counting the first two unsuccessful Lightning power plays - and hadn't allowed an opponent power-play goal in 13 games.
That late goal might create a bit of doubt for that unit going forward in the series.
"I don't know if it's about creating doubt, it's more about creating confidence for our group," Stamkos said. "I thought the first power play of the game that we had was great. We didn't score but we had some looks. And then you get that one late, you just try to gain some confidence as a group."

2. THE MOST IMPORTANT GOAL
Steven Stamkos said he thought his team played a really good second period. The Lightning extended their lead to 2-0 at 5:47 of the period when Yanni Gourde got a tip at the net on Blake Coleman's shot from the slot, a play that started initially when Barclay Goodrow had his shot blocked, allowing Coleman to skate onto the loose puck with an open lane to shoot.
But for the final five minutes of the second, the Lightning weren't at their best, and they gave the Canadiens hope going into the second intermission they might be able to rally for the win. Chiarot's double deflection goal got the Canadiens on the board, and they continued to push for the tying marker as the second came to a close.
Inside the Lightning locker room, Stamkos said the message was simple: keep attacking. The Lightning had gotten burned earlier this postseason sitting on a one-goal lead entering the final frame, specifically Game 6 of the Semifinal Round when they allowed the Islanders to tie the game in the third, win in overtime and extend the series to a seventh game.
The Bolts weren't going to allow that to happen again.
"We've learned from past mistakes where we've sat back a little bit," Stamkos said. "I thought that second period, not counting the last five minutes, I thought we had a really great period. We let them get back in the game a little bit, letting one in. We just talked. We had a one-goal lead going into the third just like we did in Game 7 the other night, 'Let's attack. Let's go. Let's keep the pressure on.' I thought we did a really good job of that."
Which made the next goal the most critical goal of the contest. Had the Canadiens scored it, they would have been brimming with confidence having come back from a two-goal deficit against a Lightning team that hadn't given them much in the way of offense to that point. Game 1 could have ended in a Lightning loss in that scenario.
But Tampa Bay re-established its two-goal lead early in the third period on Kucherov's weird deflection off of Chiarot and maybe Palat to feel comfortable again. Kucherov's second goal a bit later ended any doubt.
But it was the third goal that was the most important of the night for the Lightning.
"Just a great third period to finish out a game," Stamkos said.

3. STICKING TO THE PLAN
The Lightning made a concerted effort in Game 1 to make life as difficult as possible for Montreal goaltender Carey Price.
They sent traffic to the front of the net to try to take away his eyes. They got in tight on him and jabbed him a few times as they flew by to keep him uncomfortable. Lightning defensemen had a shoot-first mentality trying to hit one of those sticks or skates or bodies in front to redirect a puck past Price.
The strategy worked.
The first three Lightning goals were all scored on deflections or redirections.
Erik Cernak drove the net in the first period with Ondrej Palat bringing the puck up the left wing. Palat sent a beautiful pass onto the tape of Cernak, who redirected the puck over the glove of Price for the all-important opening goal.
"We know he's a really good goalie, one of the best in the NHL, so when he sees the puck from the defense, he can catch the puck," Cernak said. "We always have to be in front of him, take his eyes away and try to make some traffic in front of him."
The second goal happened in that manner when Yanni Gourde got to the front of the net and was there to get a tip on Blake Coleman's shot from the slot.
The third Lightning goal was another case of a puck put on net and caroming off the bodies in front.
Price made some unreal saves in the first two periods, robbing a wide-open Steven Stamkos from the right circle with the glove and stretching his right leg out wide to deny Tyler Johnson's backhanded chance in tight.
Sometimes you have to produce something greasy to beat a goalie like Price. That's exactly what the Lightning did on their first three goals.
"I think going on the inside, driving the net and taking his eyes away, that's the key," Gourde said.
But beyond just what the Lightning want to do to give themselves the best chance to beat Price, they also have a template they've used all postseason to earn victories. Playing tight in the defensive zone, playing in structure, marking the opposition aggressively in the defensive zone to limit time and space, managing the puck, managing situations, limiting turnovers, crisp passing: These are all hallmarks to the Lightning's game when they're playing well.
Kucherov said the coaches put together a game plan for how the team needs to play this postseason and the players are "doing a hell of a job" listening to them.
Stamkos said the Lightning focus on themselves and playing the game the right way, the way the coaches draw it up, and it shouldn't matter what the opposition does.
"We know the quality of opponent that we have," Stamkos said. "They're going to get their looks. They're a great team. They're here for a reason. We have a game plan, and we have a recipe. And if we go out there, we believe that if we do the right things, that we're going to get rewarded for it. We have so far to get to this point, and I thought we did that tonight. Except for that five minutes maybe at the end of the second period, I thought we stuck to our game plan and we got pucks in deep, we worked our forecheck, we worked our cycle. When we're on top of our game like that, we're a tough team to beat."