Burns: 3 Things we learned from a wild win against the Islanders

Tampa Bay's 7-6 victory over the New York Islanders at Barclays Center was not exactly the way the Lightning drew it up in their pregame preparation.
But they'll take the win just the same.

The Lightning exploded for seven goals through 40 minutes of play then held on for dear life as the Islanders scored three of their own in the first four-and-a-half minutes of the third period to get to within a goal. The Bolts tightened up defensively, however, over the final 15 minutes of play to shut down the Isles' comeback hopes.
Tampa Bay improves to 51-19-4 on the season and moves six points clear of the Boston Bruins for the top spot in the Atlantic Division with the win, although the Bruins have two games in hand.
The Lightning close out their brief, two-game road trip on Saturday with a meeting against the New Jersey Devils.
What can the Bolts take away from holding on in Brooklyn?

1. IDEAL START
Coming into Thursday's clash with the Islanders, there was some concern the Lightning might be a bit fatigued after flying to New York the morning of the game because a snow storm prevented them from traveling a day earlier like normal.
But after the start the Lightning got off to in the first period, maybe the team will travel and play on the same day more often.
Tampa Bay scored two early goals 26 seconds apart to open up a 2-0 lead just 2:35 into the game.
On the first, Anthony Cirelli took the puck behind the New York net and potted his wraparound attempt into the far upper corner for his third goal in 10 NHL games.
Shortly after, Chris Kunitz fed Tyler Johnson in the right circle, and Johnson went down to one-knee to fire a one-timer past Islanders goalie Christopher Gibson to make it 2-0 Bolts.
"We weren't giving them a whole lot," said Lightning forward Brayden Point, who finished with a goal and two assists to tie a career high for points in a game. "I think we were playing pretty good defense, staying above some of their really skilled forwards. We were having good breakouts because we were coming back hard."
The Lightning exited the first period with a 3-1 lead and pushed that advantage to 4-1 on Point's shorthanded tally early in the second. New York cut the score to 4-3, but the Bolts scored three-consecutive goals, two coming from J.T. Miller, to give them what appeared at the time to be an insurmountable advantage heading into the locker room.
For two periods at least, traveling the day of the game seemed to be a welcome change to the typical routine.
"I don't know if (the travel) affected our play, it's tough to tell, but our routine was a little bit different," said Bolts defenseman Victor Hedman, who extended his goal streak to three games, matching a career long. "I think everyone back in the day was used to traveling on a game day and playing the game. That was not an excuse, but it's obviously a little different flying in and straight to the hotel and straight to pre-game nap. A little bit different but we looked pretty good there for two periods."

2. CLOSING THE DOOR
Down 7-3 heading into the third period, the Islanders scored three unanswered goals to turn a runaway into a nailbiter. New York had over 15 minutes to try to find the game-tying goal, and with the way they came out of the locker room to start the third, it didn't feel like it would take them long to find it.
But a funny thing happened once the game got close again. The Lightning buckled down, focused on playing defense first and closed out the win, limiting the Islanders chances to a scant few down the stretch. Even after New York pulled backup goalie Jaroslav Halak, who entered after Gibson gave up six goals on 24 shots, the Lightning didn't give the Isles a good look at goal over the final minute of 6-on-5 action. Ryan McDonagh was extremely effective again closing out the lead, getting in shooting lanes to block shots and keeping Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy from having to save anymore shots.
"I can say this about our team, after (the Islanders) got the last goal, we didn't really give them anything the rest of the way," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "And naturally 6-on-5 there, we were in our end a little bit but we didn't give anything up. So for about 15 minutes in the third when they were pressing on us, we did a really good job."
The way the Lightning played down the stretch was a positive. What wasn't great was the way they allowed a 7-3 game to even get that close.
"We have a tendency to play to however the game's going," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "A very intense game with a lot of emotion and a good atmosphere and a lot on the line, it seems a majority of the time we find a way to match that. But when you're in a game like we were tonight, it should be just close them out. Just don't give them a chance. If the penalty kill's struggling, then let's stay out of the penalty box. That's a start. There are areas to improve on and we'll look to improve on it the last eight games."

3. HISTORY-MAKING NIGHT
This Tampa Bay squad continues to make history on a nightly basis it seems.
The Lightning's win in Brooklyn was their 51st of the season to set a new franchise record for victories in a season, bettering the mark of 50 put up by the 2014-15 team.
"I haven't really sat back and thought about it," Cooper said when asked what the record meant to him. "You look at this, you've got to win the game all different ways. You've got to win them 1-0. You can win them 7-6, but in the end, these guys have found ways to win games. Whether you're coming back or protecting leads, you've got to find a way to get into the playoffs. You get 51 wins, this organization's been around 25 years, you've got to give the guys a little pat on the back for doing what they've done."
Cooper made history too, collecting his 239th career NHL victory, tying John Tortorella for most coaching victories in Lightning history.
"I didn't know that one either," Cooper said. "John Tortorella, you look at the coaches that have been around the last 10-15 years, he's been a really good one. I know I spent a lot of time with that '04 team and they talk about Torts in extremely high regard. I've been fortunate to meet him a few times and know what he meant to our organization and the time he spent here and he laid a groundwork for guys like me to come in and follow suit. If my name is up beside John Tortorella's, I feel like that's an honor."
Vasilevskiy earned another honor on Thursday despite giving up six goals. His win was the 83rd of his young career, tying Nikolai Khabibulin for second-most all-time among Lightning goalies.
"He's been so great all year," Point said. "It's tough to give up shots against him, but I thought he held in really well after those few went in."