Burns: 3 Things we learned from an overtime win in Boston

The Tampa Bay Lightning are one win away from returning to the Eastern Conference Final for the third time in the last four seasons.
The Lightning traveled to Boston with the mission of trying to win at least one game at TD Garden to come back to Tampa with the series tied and home ice re-established.
But hey, why not take both?

For the second-straight contest, the Lightning grabbed an early 2-0 lead in Game 4. This time, they watched it evaporate under three-consecutive goals from the Bruins. But they rallied in the third, Steven Stamkos scoring a pivotal goal with 7:04 remaining to force overtime and unlikely hero Dan Girardi redirecting the puck past Tuukka Rask 3:18 into overtime for the game-winner in the extra session in a 4-3 Tampa Bay victory.
Now the Bolts have a chance to close out the Bruins Sunday when the Second Round series shifts back to Tampa for Game 5.
The Lightning withstood Boston's best punch in Game 4 and countered with a blow of their own.
They'll go for the knockout Sunday.

1. THE GAME-WINNER
As Dan Girardi and Steven Stamkos sat together at the podium during their post-game press conference following Game 4, Girardi was light-heartedly asked by one of the assembled media members what he was doing down low on his game-winning goal in overtime.
Stamkos piped in before Girardi could answer, "Scoring goals."
Girardi has scored 60 goals during his NHL career, including eight in the playoffs and eight this season with the Lightning.
As far as importance, you'll be hard pressed to find one more meaningful than his game-winning tally to end Game 4 in Boston.
As Girardi saw Alex Killorn hold the puck in at the point and move it down the boards to Yanni Gourde, Girardi made his move to net. With Gourde leaving the puck for Killorn to carry down low, Girardi slammed his stick once to the ice to let Killorn know he was available. Killorn backhanded a pass across the crease, and Girardi, with one hand on his stick, redirected the puck at the far post past Bruins goaltender Rask to end Game 4 and put the Lightning on the brink of advancing to the Eastern Conference Final.
"I was kind of deep in the zone and I saw they made a good play at the blue line to have control," Girardi recalled after the game about the fourth playoff game-winning goal of his career and first since Game 3 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Final at New Jersey. "Kind of just beat my guy up the ice a little bit, got on the right side of him. Killer made a great slice at the net there, and just luckily it hit my stick. Just kind of set up in my office in front of the net there."
"I've seen that backhander tip before in Detroit," added Victor Hedman. "The one-handed one is new. He's good at making those reads and great play by Killer and Gourdo cycling along the wall and G getting body position and in the right place at the right time."
Girardi made one of the biggest plays of his career, but it was a sequence of plays that set up the game-winner. Tony Cirelli stretched his legs wide to keep onside before everything. Ryan McDonagh pinched down to keep Ryan Donato from whacking the puck out of the zone. Alex Killorn saved the puck at the point to keep it in the zone. The two-man game with Killorn and Gourde allowed the Lightning to cycle the puck down toward the goal line. And Killorn's backhanded pass was right on the stick of Girardi.
"The whole play, it was just poise all over the place, how Cirelli didn't pull a groin staying onside to start with," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "But it's battle wins. They won that battle along the wall. That is an unbelievable poise play. We've done that before. We'll rotate our guys and throw our D back door. But the whole, when Yanni pulled up and to have the wherewithal and have the poise and give it to Killer and throw it across like that. Usually the big joke is that's Yanni's spot. Yanni has 25 goals, I don't even know if they add up to 25 feet. I guess G's taken that over now."

2. GUESS WHO'S BACK?
The Lightning came into Game 4 with a 2-1 lead in the series, and the J.T. Miller-Steven Stamkos-Nikita Kucherov line had just two points between them, both coming on Stamkos' empty-net power-play goal at the end of Game 3 to seal the victory.
"What's a really good sign for us is they hadn't been scoring and we're still winning," Cooper said. "And it was just a matter of time."
That time came Friday in Game 4.
Nikita Kucherov scored his first goal of the Second Round to put the Lightning up 2-0 at 9:53 of Game 4, his trademark blistering one-timer from the right circle on the power play, giving the Bolts an early two-goal advantage for the second-consecutive game in Boston.
The Bolts have scored exactly one power-play goal in all four games of the series.
Boston rallied to tie the game at 6:36 of the third on Patrice Bergeron's shorthanded tally, and time was starting to run out for the Lightning. That's when Steven Stamkos does what superstars do: He put the team on his back and delivered.
Kucherov forced Bruins rookie defenseman Charlie McAvoy into a turnover behind the Boston net and got the puck to Miller at the wall. Before Miller's pass even left his stick, Stamkos was already waiting at the top of the right circle, stick high in the air, ready to tee off on a one-timer.
Stamkos went down to one knee to dig the puck out and blistered a shot over the glove of Rask to tie the game with 7:04 to go.
"It was almost like Stammer said I've had enough," Cooper said. "That thing went in with authority."
The top line was once again the top line for the Lightning in Game 4. Stamkos recorded his second multi-point game of these playoffs and 12th of his career. Kucherov netted his sixth goal and continues to lead the Bolts for goals and scoring in the postseason. And Miller chipped in an assist, his second-straight game with a helper.
"You need your big guns to help you win," Cooper said. "In a tough environment, you're down a goal with under 10 (minutes) to go, especially after giving up a shorty in which they were on the ice for and to sit there and say okay, like I said before, we need you and he showed up and he delivered. He's done that his whole career. It was just a matter of time. We needed him, and he was there for us."
Despite getting basically shut out over the first three games of the series, the Stamkos line contributed in other ways, whether it was with the forecheck or playing tight defensively to eliminate time and space for the opposition or providing a threat on the power play.
In Game 4, they were rewarded on the scoresheet.
"We come to the playoffs to win hockey games," Stamkos said. "Obviously you want to produce in these moments but there's a reason why we've been very successful as a team throughout the season and so far in the playoffs. It's because we have really good players on our hockey team. It's not about one guy, it's not about one line, it's the depth that makes good hockey teams. Like I said, our line knew that we wanted to step up and produce. Today was obviously nice to see. We just want to win and we'll continue to do everything we can to make sure that continues."

3. POINT DAZZLES
The winner of every game in the Second Round series between the Bolts and Bruins has scored the opening goal.
Brayden Point made sure the Lightning would be that team with a spectacular sequence of moves to put Tampa Bay up 1-0 less than five minutes into the game.
Point intercepted Jake DeBrusk's pass attempt for Riley Nash just outside the offensive zone and quickly transitioned the other way. With three Bruins lined up across the blue line, Point charged hard at the middle skater, Zdeno Chara, and dangled around the lengthy defenseman with ease. Point nearly lost the puck as it sped toward goal, but was able to bring it back on his stick before Rask could get to it. At the goal mouth, Point tapped the puck into the middle of the blue paint to keep it away from Rask, sidestepped Rask and slammed the puck into the open net.
Point, a first-time NHL All-Star in just his second season this year, is an unassuming player who stays even keel at all times and never says a whole lot.
Instead, he lets his game do the talking for him.
In Game 4, like it's been throughout the 2018 Playoffs, Point spoke loudly with his stick.
And it allowed the Lightning to once again play with the lead for a large portion of the contest and come away from Boston just one win away from claiming the series.