Burns: 3 Things we learned from leveling the semifinal series 1-1

Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper wasn't happy with the way his team mentally thought through Game 1 of the Bolts Stanley Cup Semifinal series against the New York Islanders Sunday.
Blake Coleman said the Lightning lacked fire, that the vibe wasn't there in the locker room.
Ryan McDonagh thought too many times the Bolts mismanaged the puck when they had it on their stick.
All of those issues from the series opener were rectified in Game 2 Tuesday, the Lightning grabbing the opening goal, weathering the storm on a horrendously-botched call that allowed the Islanders to level the score and pulling away behind the artistry of Nikita Kucherov and scoring from an unlikely source so far this postseason in a 4-2 win to level the best-of-seven series 1-1.
"We know we had better, and we were better," Cooper said.

The Lightning improved to 4-0 this postseason in games following a loss and 11-0 over the past two playoffs.
Including their win in the opening game of the 2020 Playoffs, that coming off the heels of their Game 4 loss in the First Round of the 2019 Playoffs, Tampa Bay is 12-0 in its last 12 games after a loss, the longest such run in NHL history.
"That's what we pride ourselves in," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "In playoffs it's tough to lose two in a row. After you lose one game, you want to get back at it. I thought today was a good example of a hungry team and getting ready to go out there and battle and play the way we want to play."
"Our guys these past two playoff runs, they really dig their heels in after a loss, and they did that again tonight," Cooper added. "Now we've just got to keep building on this momentum we have."
The Semifinal series shifts to Long Island for Game 3 Thursday in the hostile environment that is the Nassau Coliseum. But the Lightning will be ready. They've fed off road crowds all playoffs, going 5-1 away from home, including winning all three games in a raucous PNC Arena during the Second Round to win that series in five games.
"Excited to go up to Long Island and keep it going," Hedman said.

1. THE GRACE OF NIKITA KUCHEROV
Nikita Kucherov has been the best skater in the National Hockey League this postseason, Kucherov pulling away in the scoring chase after posting three assists in Game 2, his second three-assist game of these playoffs, giving him 22 points this postseason.
But it's the style and flare he displays setting up his teammates that might be most impressive about Kucherov's game.
His "grace" as Jon Cooper called it.
The Lightning needed to score the opening goal in Game 2, not just because they're 9-1 in games this postseason when they get on the board following Tuesday's win, but what it would do for their psyche coming off Sunday's sub-par showing.
Kucherov made sure the Lightning got it.
And he did so in dynamic fashion.
Near the nine-minute mark of the opening period, Kucherov was behind the net as David Savard stopped a puck at the blue line and rimmed it back down low. As the puck was traveling his way, Kucherov saw Brayden Point crashing the short side post. In one quick motion, Kucherov turned his back to Point, popped the puck toward the post in a no-look, twirling move and fed Point perfectly to bury top shelf from the same spot he scored at the end of Game 1.
"I think we just feel each other, trying to read off each other before the puck gets to behind the net," Kucherov explained on the play. "Pointer's trying to get open and I'm thinking what he's going to think. Trying to find him on the short side, and he did a hell of a job jumping out and put it in."
That gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead and momentum, which was short-lived for reasons we'll explain later.
In the second period, with the game tied 1-1, Kucherov again produced magic.
A long pass was sent up ahead to him at the blue line for an attempted breakaway, except Kucherov couldn't receive the puck cleanly, allowing Nick Leddy to close him down. Sensing the breakaway was no longer there as he was skating into the left circle, Kucherov pulled back like he was heading toward the blue line.
But then he reversed course on a dime, eluding Mathew Barzal and spotted a wide-open Ondrej Palat skating unimpeded into the slot. Kucherov threaded a pass to Palat, and the left wing pinged a shot off the post and in to give the Lightning the lead for good 2-1 at 13:15 of the period.
"He's an elite player, one of the best in the league," Hedman said. He's just so good at finding open ice, so calm with the puck and making plays. Pally's goal is a good example. There's not a lot of players that can turn up, turn back down and thread the needle, gives Pally almost a breakaway from the hash marks. Kuch has elite skill, and he works on it every day so it's not a coincidence. It's what he does. He's a treat to watch."
Cooper also enjoyed the rarity of what Kucherov can do when the pucks on his stick.
"He's remarkably gifted," he said. "I don't know how to describe it. He does everything, it's like with grace. He's just so smooth in the plays he makes, what his vision is and how he can see and make plays, it almost looks effortless."
Kucherov continues to lead the NHL this postseason for assists (17), scoring (22 pts.) and power-play scoring (4-11-15 pts.). He's on his way to becoming the first player to lead the NHL for playoff scoring in consecutive seasons since Mario Lemieux did it in 1991 and 1992.
And he's doing it with the artistry only a couple of other players in the League can even imagine mimicking.

2. THE PENALTY ON THE ISLANDERS THAT WAS CALLED A PENALTY ON THE LIGHTNING
The Lightning had momentum and the lead after scoring about nine minutes into the contest.
They were looking for more when Kucherov sent a puck into the path of Brayden Point, who was entering the zone with speed and a step on everyone, including a trailing Adam Pelech.
Pelech could do nothing more than cross-check Point in the back to try and prevent the goal, sending Point crashing into Islanders netminder Semyon Varlamov, both players hitting the back of the net hard and knocking it off its moorings nearly to the back wall.
The trailing referee's arm went up signaling a penalty, and the natural assumption was Pelech would sit in the box for his infraction.
Except as players piled off one another in the net, it was Point the referee grabbed to usher to the box, to the bewilderment of the 14,771 spectators inside AMALIE Arena.
Point was called for goaltender interference. Nothing happened to Pelech. And the Islanders got a power play, which they scored 20 seconds into when Brock Nelson slammed a rebound from the slot past Andrei Vasilevskiy to tie the game 1-1.
It was almost the exact same play as what happened in Game 4 of the First Round versus Florida when Nikita Kucherov was in on goal, got pushed from behind into the Panthers goalie and somehow ended up getting the penalty for goalie interference.
Fortunately for the Lightning, the bad call didn't end up costing them either game.
"The big thing you have to do is weather your emotions," Cooper said. "We all saw the call. It was a tough one, tough decision for the refs to make, especially when they tell you he put his hands up to hit the goalie, and, clearly, he did not do that. It's a game of a high rate of speed. Refs are in a bind when it comes down to that. In those situations, you have to weather through that. Like in the end, you have to kill the penalty off. We didn't, and, to me, it wasn't so much that Pointer got a penalty, it was the fact that we gave up a goal on the play and that's how you have to manage your emotions in those situations."
Varlamov was shaken up on the play and had to exit for the remainder of the first period. Ilya Sorokin came in and stopped all six shots he faced in his brief relief stint. Varlamov was able to return for the start of the second period and finished the game.
That egregious missed call could have been a big momentum swing in the game, but the Lightning did well despite giving up the goal on the ensuing power play to not let it affect them beyond that.
"I thought the guys did a great job in just staying in the fight because calls aren't going to go your way," Cooper said. "Some calls aren't going to go the Islanders' way. And it's just the way things go. But you have to stay the course. I thought our guys did a great job there. It was huge getting the next goal, even if it comes later in the game. Not to let them take the lead was big for us."
Point was asked the explanation he got from the ref why he was being sent to the penalty box. He took the high road, expressing more his concern for Varlamov's health than his spot in the box.
"First and foremost, really glad to see Varly come back in the game," he said. "You don't want to have collisions like that. Certainly wasn't trying to hurt anybody, so I was super happy to see he was alright and able to finish the game and came back. But, that's tough on the ref. He sees a big collision. It's hard. It happens fast, so I can't really blame anyone. I'm just glad everyone was alright because you don't like to see collisions like that."

3. ROOTS ROLLS OFF THE TONGUE
The Lightning entered Game 2 without getting a goal from a defenseman this postseason.
The blueline has certainly been involved in the offense. Victor Hedman is one of the leading scorers in the playoffs - he took over as the defensemen scoring leader after his two-point night in Game 2 - and Erik Cernak and Ryan McDonagh have been drivers of the offense too, helping to set up multiple goals.
But none of them had found the back of the net.
The Lightning didn't realize that stat until the media brought it up to them following the Game 1 loss.
"I'm sure the guys in the room were like, 'Man, we've got to get one here,'" Cooper said.
The blue line finally broke through in Game 2, but it came from maybe the least likely of sources.
With the Lightning up 2-1 at the start of the third period, Jan Rutta laced a perfectly-placed shot from the right point that found a way through the traffic in front and just kissed the top far corner of the goal before it hit the back of the net to extend the Bolts' lead to two goals.
Rutta scored the first playoff goal of his NHL career.
And the Lightning finally had their defenseman goal.
"We wanted to put an end to that tonight," Hedman said. "What better way than top shelf by Roots," Hedman said.
"Jan Rutta rolled off the tongue first as the guy that was going to do it," Cooper joked.
Rutta scored just his 10th goal in the NHL, regular season or playoffs.
The one he scored Tuesday was no doubt the most significant of his career. It turned out to be the game-winner.
"There's a first for everything," Rutta said. "Really happy that it finally went in. It was a nice setup, kind of low to high. Finally, it didn't hit any shin pads or sticks. Yeah, really happy with that one."
Not to be outdone, Hedman added another defenseman goal, this time on a power play a little later in the third period to push the cushion to a three-goal lead. Hedman's goal was the 18th of his career in the playoffs, pulling him into a tie with Brad Richards for ninth place among Tampa Bay's all-time playoff goal scorers.
"You're all about just winning games and moving on to the next one, and you're not sitting here saying, 'Well, the D haven't scored,'" Cooper said. "It doesn't matter that they haven't scored. It matters that we win the game. Eventually it was going to happen, and it was the game-winning goal and then kind of the icing-on-the-cake goal by two of the defensemen."