Burns: 3 Things we learned from an overtime loss in Dallas

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was thwarted in his bid to tie Louis Domingue's franchise record 11-game consecutive win streak following a 3-2 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center Monday night.
Vasilevskiy's teammates didn't help him much in his quest to extend his win streak.

"He definitely bailed us out and got us a point tonight," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper admitted.
Tampa Bay was sloppy in its first game back after a nine-day break, a not completely unexpected development after the long layoff due to the bye week and All-Star Weekend combination. But a number of bugaboos that plagued the Lightning over the first quarter of the season - turnovers, odd-man rushes given up and poor decision making - re-emerged in the overtime defeat in Dallas. That the Lightning were able to secure a point from the loss when Steven Stamkos netted his second goal of the game with 1:26 to go and the Bolts down a goal with an extra attacker on the ice was a fortunate outcome and a testament to the team's will to keep fighting.
"Probably a game we didn't deserve (a point) because of the odd-man rushes that we gave up," the Lightning captain said. "Vasy was huge and stole us a point tonight."
Here's how it went down in Big D.

1. DEFENSIVE DEFICIENCIES
Steven Stamkos estimated the Lightning hadn't given up six odd-man rushes in the previous 10 games combined entering Monday's contest.
He and his teammates counted that many against in the second period alone in Dallas.
The Lightning did their goaltender no favors with the number of breakdowns committed against the Stars. Vasilevskiy allowed two goals on breakaways, both to Jamie Benn, one to give the Stars their first lead at 9:06 of the third period and the other in overtime on a 2-on-0 rush. And yet his play in net was still considered heroic because of the many more opportunities the Stars had to take control of the game and both points from the Lightning.
Specifically, Vasilevskiy stoned Mattias Janmark on a breakaway moments after Benn scored his go-ahead goal in the third to keep it a one-goal deficit and allow the Lightning the opportunity to grab a point from the game.
"Turnovers, bad reads, bad plays by us, just sloppy," Stamkos said. "We've got to learn some lessons from tonight."
Cooper said the compete was there from the Lightning in their first game out of the break.
The decision making, however, was not.
"We gave up more chances tonight on odd-man rushes than we've given up the last 20 games combined," Cooper said.
The challenge now for the Lightning is to ensure the defensive errors against Dallas were a one-off and not the beginning of a troubling trend.

2. POWER PLAY FIZZLES
Tampa Bay has owned one of the best power plays in the NHL all season.
Of late, however, the special teams unit has struggled to provide the Lightning with any shot of momentum, let alone goals.
The power play was shut out once again in Dallas, going 0-for-4. The Lightning have now scored just one power-play goal over their last seven games, the Bolts going 1-for-16 with the man advantage over that stretch.
"The PP I don't think was great tonight," Lightning center Brayden Point said. "We didn't really get too many high-quality chances. (The Stars) did a good job, give them credit, but it's on us to work out plays."
Trailing 2-1 late in the game, the Lightning were gifted an opportunity to level the score with 4:48 to go when Joe Pavelski tripped Kevin Shattenkirk as the Bolts defenseman was wheeling behind his own net to bring the puck up the other way.
On the ensuing power play, the Lightning struggled to enter the zone. When they did get the puck in, it quickly came back out. The Bolts managed just two shots on Ben Bishop's net, the former Lightning netminder easily able to make both stops.
Fortunately for the Lightning, they were able tie the game up a couple of minutes later when Vaslievskiy skated off for the extra attacker and Stamkos one-timed a shot from the left circle on his knee past Bishop with 1:26 to go, a power play-esque setup with Nikita Kucherov moving the puck from the right circle to Victor Hedman at the point, and Hedman setting up Stamkos in his wheelhouse.
But the struggles of the power play of late have to be a concern for a team that prides itself on putting the puck in the net with regularity on the man advantage.
Since January 9, the Lightning rank 30th out of 31 NHL teams for power-play percentage, converting just 6.3 percent of its opportunities. Don't expect that drought to continue, the Bolts have too much firepower on both units to keep getting stymied. It's just unfortunate the power shortage on the power play has lasted as long as it has.

3. PENALTY KILL SIZZLES
Conversely, while the power play has fizzled over the last seven games, the penalty kill has been a source of strength for the Lightning.
It kept them in the game early in Dallas.
The Lightning took three penalties in the opening period, another issue harkening back to the beginning of the season when the Bolts were searching to find their way. Dallas never gained any traction on its power play though because the Lightning didn't allow it. The Bolts pressured anybody in a green sweater that had the puck, forcing them to make a quick decision.
More often than not, they turned it over.
The Lightning cleared smartly anytime they got the puck on their stick. They shaded toward Tyler Seguin to ensure the Stars' most deadly weapon never got a chance to do any damage.
In general, the Bolts frustrated the Stars power play and flustered them into mistakes. The early kills allowed the Lightning to gain some momentum, which they were finally able to capitalize on 13:41 into the second period when Steven Stamkos got a tip on Nikita Kucherov's shot from the point to beat Bishop for the game's opening goal.
But the penalty kill set the tone early with its three stops in the first period. The Bolts' penalty kill finished a perfect 4-for-4 in Dallas and only allowed a combined two shots, both of which a dialed-in Vasilevskiy was able to save routinely.
The Lightning penalty kill now ranks tied for third in the NHL at 83.5 percent. Since November 1, the Bolts are No. 1 in the League at 88.5 percent.
That unit continues to improve as the season progresses.