Burns: 3 Things we learned from sweeping Nashville

Something that's become apparent through the first two-and-a-half weeks of the season: Sweeping a team in these two-game or three-game series brought about by division realignment and the condensed schedule is a difficult proposition.
Whether because a team that loses the first game has more incentive to win the second, a team that wins the first game relaxes a bit with a victory in the bank or just the general parity in the National Hockey League, sweeps have been a rarity.
The fact the Lightning have done it to two different opponents at AMALIE Arena to start the season and are a perfect 4-0-0 at home is a good sign for Tampa Bay in 2020-21.

The Lightning followed a 4-3 win Saturday night over the Nashville Predators with a 5-2 victory on Monday, the Bolts collecting all four points from the two-game set and, importantly, not allowing the Predators to accumulate any points in a season where so many Central Division games have gone to overtime.
Tampa Bay is two home wins away from matching its franchise record for most consecutive wins at home to start a season (6 in 2017-18), a record it can reach following a two-game set against the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday and Friday to close a four-game homestand.

1. A FLICK OF THE WRIST AND A RECORD SET
Look up toward the ceiling at AMALIE Arena, and two numbers hang from the rafters: the No. 4 of Vinny Lecavalier and the No. 26 of Martin St. Louis.
One day, Steven Stamkos and his No. 91 will join those two.
On Monday, he overtook both as the Lightning's all-time leader for power-play scoring.
In the second period with Tampa Bay already owning a 3-0 lead and in complete control, Stamkos took possession of the puck below the left circle on a power play, the Bolts' fourth of the game. With room in front of him, Stamkos skated around the perimeter of the circle then headed for his preferred spot on the left dot.
He measured his options, saw Dante Fabbro standing between him and goal and with a calm flick of his wrist sent a shot through the legs of Fabbro and at the far post that had Predators goalie Juuse Saros moving the wrong way.
The puck ended up in the back of the net, and the goal gave the Lightning a 4-0 lead.
More importantly, it was the 301st power-play point for Stamkos, moving him past Martin St. Louis (300) and into first place among Tampa Bay's all-time power-play scorers. Lecavalier is right behind with 297 power-play points.
"I think these ones you don't really know to be honest until they put it up on the scoreboard during the game and the guys start congratulating you," Stamkos said when asked what the record meant to him. "Obviously, the bigger milestones you're aware of, but that one's pretty cool. Anytime you're up there with Marty and Vinny in the record books here in Tampa, that means I've been here a long time and have been fortunate to have a lot of success. Hopefully, a lot more power-play points to come."
A majority of those power-play points were aided by St. Louis and Lecavalier, so it was fitting the Lightning captain passed both to place his name atop the list.
"That's some pretty heady company," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. "Pretty sure both those guys have been on the other end of a lot of his power-play goals, so I think they've all helped each other out to get themselves up there. Not only good for Stammer, but good for all of them."
After the game, Stamkos was asked how much he learned about playing on the power play while on the unit with St. Louis for so many seasons.
"We'd be here all night if I named everything," Stamkos joked. "He taught me so much when I came into the league. First and foremost, his work ethic is very contagious, just how to be a professional and then how to adapt as a player. If you want to be elite in this league, you have to do it consistently, which he obviously was, and just kind of knowing where to go on the ice without the puck. That was something that he really taught me at a young age was how to make those reads out there. Obviously on the power play, he was kind of the setup guy, I was the shooter. It was a lot of fun. I've been blessed to have him and then Kuch and some really amazing playmakers on that side of the power play. Kudos to them for sure for helping me to get to 301."

2. PLAYING REGULARLY LOOKS GOOD ON THE LIGHTNING
For the first time this season, the Lightning were able to get into a rhythm in the schedule where they played every other day for three-straight games.
The regular playing time seemed to give them a crispness not yet seen from the team so far this season.
After weathering an early push in the first period from a Nashville team eager to make up for Saturday's loss, the Lightning took complete command of the game. Ondrej Palat started the scoring, converting a two-on-one with Stamkos that was initially broken up by Roman Josi, but Palat stuck with the play and was able to backhand a shot past Saros from the edge of the crease at 9:13 to put the Lightning ahead 1-0.
And like we've seen so often this season, once the Lightning broke through for the first goal, the scoring came in waves.
At 13:59, Yanni Gourde redirected a puck from the blue paint past Saros to make it 2-0, finishing off a beautiful passing sequence that saw Anthony Cirelli thread a pass from the left wall just inside the blue line to the opposite wall for Tyler Johnson, and Johnson saucing a pass in front for Gourde to convert.
And at the first period buzzer, a 2-on-0 for Brayden Point and Mathieu Joseph led to one of the prettiest goals the Lightning will score this season, Point dishing to Joseph on the post and Joseph going back to Point with Saros swimming into his net for Point to easily tap in.
"I looked up with six seconds, and the puck got flipped down," Cooper said about the third goal. "You're not thinking they're going to go pass-pass-pass, but guys are so fast you can make something out of nothing in almost no time, and that's what they did."
Tampa Bay continued to control the game into the second period when Stamkos picked up his historic power-play marker. Only a slight dip in the third period when Nashville scored back-to-back goals within the first six minutes of the final frame kept it from being a perfect performance for the Lightning.
Still, Monday night was as close to bubble hockey as the Bolts have played this season, the Lightning looking much like they did during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs when they went 18-7 and culminated their run by lifting the Stanley Cup.
They played pretty much every other day in the Toronto and Edmonton bubbles, and clearly the regular and frequent action suits them just fine.
"When uncertainty comes into play and games get switched, then it kind of throws everything out of whack a bit," Cooper said, referring to three early-season games that were rescheduled due to opponents' COVID concerns that left the Lightning going four, five days at a time without playing. "I guess the only time you really want that is if your team's injured. But other than that, it's good to play games. It's good for your goaltender. It's good for everybody. So, I don't know if that attributed to us playing better. I think what's attributing to us playing better is now we are getting to play some games and play other opponents on a regular basis, and I think just conditioning-wise you're getting into game shape. You have to get into game shape in the regular season as opposed to having exhibition games to help you out in that regard."

3. A CONVENIENT LINEUP
Tampa Bay went with a 7/11 alignment -- seven defensemen and 11 forwards - for the first time in 2020-21 on Monday against Nashville.
The move was a success, much as it was for the Lightning during the playoffs when they made the switch in the Second Round, partly out of necessity with Ryan McDonagh injured, then stuck with it once McDonagh was back through the Eastern Conference Final to reach the Stanley Cup Final.
On Monday, the Lightning were able to get more time for their forwards by rotating a guy through on the fourth line with Patrick Maroon and Mathieu Joseph. And it allowed them to reduce the minutes of defensemen McDonagh, Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev, who all had been logging hefty time on ice totals in the last couple of games with Erik Cernak injured.
Hedman skated 24:51 against Nashville, his second-lowest ice time of the season, while both McDonagh and Sergachev were under 20 minutes for the first time all season.
Cooper said there were "a multitude of reasons" for him to go 11/7 versus Nashville.
"Part of it was Cerny coming back," he said. "I wanted to get Footer some more games. We have a day off tomorrow. Some other guys could log a few more minutes. This isn't anything new to us, and this won't be the last time we do it. It was a good start going 11/7, and I thought the guys handled it well."
Cernak returned to the lineup against Nashville after missing the previous two games from an upper-body injury sustained January 23 at Columbus. Foote scored his first NHL goal in his fourth career game two nights ago versus Nashville, so it made sense to leave him in the lineup to build off that success. And with the animosity seen between the two teams on Saturday, Luke Schenn's presence was needed as well to deter anybody from taking runs at any of the Lightning players.
The forwards enjoyed the extra ice time too.
"You always want more ice time. We're competitors," Yanni Gourde said. "I think 11/7 brings a little bit of a different vibe to our game. You expect an extra shift once in a while. It's fun to go back there with different players too. It's part of the game, and we definitely enjoy it."