Burns: 3 Things we learned from routing the Leafs

Following a 4-1 loss to the Bruins in Boston to close out the month of February, Tampa Bay goaltender Louis Domingue said the challenge the rest of the regular season for the Lightning was to prove to teams they can't play with the Bolts.
That message was delivered to the Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night.

The Lightning produced as dominant a win as they've had all season in a 6-2 runaway victory over the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. The Bolts bolted out to a 4-0 lead 25 minutes into the game and never looked back, registering a complete 60-minute effort as they continue to round out their game for what they hope is a long playoff run.
"We got the win, but I think tonight we really wanted to show them that's why we're the best team in the league," Cedric Paquette said.
Tampa Bay improved to 53-13-4 on the season and needs just one win over its remaining 12 games to match a franchise record for most wins in a season set a year ago.
Ahead, Three Things we learned from a blowout win in Toronto.

1. OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN
Tampa Bay already ices one of the best forward groups in the NHL, one that is four lines deep and can score goals while locking up opponents defensively as well.
But when Bolts blueliners get involved in the offensive action and contribute in that area of the game, the Lightning are pretty much unstoppable.
Lightning defensemen assisted on all six goals in Tampa Bay's rout of the Maple Leafs. The blueliners contributed seven points in all, including two assists from newcomer Jan Rutta, who tallied his first two points as a member of the Lightning in just his second game.
Tampa Bay was down two defensemen against the Leafs as both Dan Girardi and Anton Stralman sat out with lower-body injuries.
No matter. The Bolts plugged in Rutta, who has filled in admirably since being recalled from AHL Syracuse, and shifted the pairings around a bit, and the result was more of the same for the Lightning.
Another victory.
"I think it's contributions from everybody, from all four lines, two goalies and six D," Paquette said when asked what's led to the success for the Lightning this season. "When you're out of the lineup, guys have stepped up and showed their ability."
The defensemen drove the train for the Lightning in Toronto. Braydon Coburn finished with a team-high six shots on the night and set up a goal with his shot from the point that deflected off Ondrej Palat and found the back of the net. That goal came 30 seconds after Tyler Johnson put the Lightning in front 3-0 at 4:20 of the third period.
Bolts blueliners accounted for 19 of the team's 42 total shots. They finished a combined plus-8 on the game (only Victor Hedman, who was even, didn't finish with a plus rating). And, maybe most importantly, they managed the puck well in their own end and didn't turn the puck over, making it possible for the Lightning to play the majority of the game in the Leafs' end of the ice.
We've seen Lightning defensemen get more involved offensively over the last few weeks, highlighted by a four-goal effort March 2 versus Ottawa and continuing Monday night against Toronto.
That's a really good sign for the Lightning with the playoffs fast approaching.

2. DEPTH SCORING
Tampa Bay netted six goals against Toronto, the 15th time this season (not including shootout deciding goals) the Lightning have registered six or more goals in a game.
Amazingly, Tampa Bay's top three goal-scorers - Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov - didn't tally a single goal.
The Lightning got a pair of goals each from Tyler Johnson and Paquette, who matched his career high for goals in a single season set previously during his rookie campaign in 2014-15 with his 11th and 12th goals in Toronto.
Anthony Cirelli and Ondrej Palat also lit the lamp for the Lightning, showcasing just how much scoring punch this Tampa Bay team possesses. All four lines had at least one goal in Tampa Bay's win.
"We always say we've got four lines that can contribute, four lines that can score," Johnson said. "Offense, defense, whatever it is, I like the skill that we have."
Perhaps there's no better example of Tampa Bay's scoring depth than its fourth line, which was in complete control on each one of its shifts Monday night. Toronto is one of the few teams in the NHL that can challenge the Lightning's depth.
And yet, the fourth line centered by Paquette with Yanni Gourde and Adam Erne on the wings outclassed a pretty good Leafs' fourth line.
That's where the Lightning will have an advantage in the playoffs over nearly every opponent they face. While other teams might be able to match the Bolts' skill over two lines and possibly three, none has the firepower on the fourth line the Lightning possess. That forces teams to rely on mainly three lines when they play the Lightning. Over the course of a game, those players getting more minutes will wear down while the Lightning's depth affords them the opportunity to grind teams down.
That depth will be the biggest key for the Lightning to advance in the postseason.

3. SHORTHANDED SUCCESS
Tampa Bay's penalty kill turnaround this season has been nothing short of remarkable.
The Lightning ranked 28th in the NHL last season on the kill at just 76.1 percent.
This year, the Bolts' penalty kill tops the NHL at 85.6 percent. Combined with the League's No. 1 power play, the Lightning have been able to win the special teams battle pretty much every night they take the ice.
Against Toronto, not only did the Lightning thwart both Maple Leafs power-play opportunities but they scored an important shorthanded goal that extinguished what little life the Leafs had left.
With Tampa Bay ahead 4-1 but Toronto threatening to get back in the game having scored their first goal and on a power play looking for a second, Yanni Gourde sprinted down the ice to reach a loose puck behind the Leafs' net first. When he looked up, he saw two teammates racing toward the Toronto goal. The Leafs, in the middle of a change, had just one player back to defend.
Gourde fed Victor Hedman in the slot. Hedman dished off to his right for Paquette, who one-timed a shot into the back of the goal, converting the 3-on-1 shorthanded opportunity and re-establishing the Lightning's four-goal lead.
Toronto never threatened again the rest of the game.
Paquette would score again to open the third period, giving him three goals in the last four games.
"It's nice to see when these guys work their tail off doing all the right things they get rewarded for it," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "It's not like he's a guy that plays 20 minutes a night. He plays in all those situations, kind of a grinding role, kills penalties for us and for somebody like him to get two goals tonight the guys on the bench were really happy for him."
The Lightning have scored seven shorthanded goals this season. A lot of them have come in pivotal moments in the game, like the one Paquette scored Monday.
That shorthanded success is just one more reason why the Lightning are approaching historic win totals in the NHL.