Burns: 3 Things we learned from the Captain's return and a 2-1 lead

If the Stanley Cup Final between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars didn't already have enough drama, Game 3 took it to legendary levels.
Lightning captain Steven Stamkos entered the lineup for the first time this postseason, his highly-anticipated first game back since a February 25th regular season contest against Toronto.
Just the presence of Stamkos on the bench gave the Lightning a lift.
And then the captain provided a moment that lifted the entire team off of that bench.

Just under seven minutes into the contest and playing only his third shift, Stamkos sped past Esa Lindell to generate a 2-on-1 with Patrick Maroon, the 30-year-old forward taking the shot and beating Stars goalie Anton Khudobin to the far post top corner for a dramatic moment in both the career of the Lightning superstar and in Tampa Bay franchise history.
"A dream come true," Stamkos called it after Game 3.
Bolstered by the addition of Stamkos, the Lightning broke out to a 2-0 advantage, withstood a push by the Stars in second half of the opening period, then dominated the second period to win 5-2 and take a two-games-to-one lead, their first of the series.
Tampa Bay now sits just two wins away from lifting the Stanley Cup for the second time in franchise history.
The Lightning will have a chance to get a bit closer in Friday's Game 4, the first half of a back-to-back set.

1. OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
For a few days now, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper has been hinting Steven Stamkos might make a return in the Stanley Cup Final, saying he was "inching along" in his rehab from injury.
Stamkos said the decision to play was made following Tuesday's practice session.
"We knew it was going to be tricky trying to get into a game," Stamkos said. "It's been such a long time. At this time of the year, you want to do anything you can to help your team win."
Stamkos wasted little time to make his presence felt and produce the feel-good moment for the Lightning this playoff run. On his third shift of the game, Stamkos sped through the neutral zone and along the right boards and received a pass from Victor Hedman on the opposite wall. With Esa Lindell standing in front of him, Stamkos hit his turbo boost to easily maneuver around Lindell.
Now on a 2-on-1 with Pat Maroon, Stamkos took the open space in front of him and skated into the right circle. Once he reached the dot, Stamkos fired for the net, picking out a spot to the upper far corner and sniping it perfectly past Khudobin on his first shot of the game to put the Lightning in front 2-0 just 1:25 after Nikita Kucherov stole a pass in the neutral zone and converted on a breakaway for the opening goal.
Stamkos jumped into the arms of Maroon behind the Stars net after scoring. Cedric Paquette, Hedman and Jan Rutta arrived shortly after, an emphatic celebration between the group of teammates on the ice that certainly was a long time coming for Stamkos.
"It was just an amazing experience to share with my teammates," Stamkos said. "There's been a lot of hard work and different things going on behind the scenes, so just to be able to get out into a game and have an impact on a game, which a month ago may have never been possible, it was amazing to be part of a huge win for us. I was just really happy to contribute in a game that I didn't play too much."
On the Lightning bench, players and staff hugged. Fists were pumped in the air. Cooper smiled and shook his head in disbelief.
"You marvel at players," Cooper said. "He only had five shifts, but probably as efficient a five shifts you're ever going to see in a National Hockey League playoff game. We're with these players day in and day out all year. This is the season that seems to never end and here we are watching a player come back and then do what he did in the biggest stage at the biggest time of the year, you have to marvel at it. It was pretty damn cool."
Stamkos didn't play much after scoring. He skated just two more shifts after registering his 24th career playoff goal to pull into a tie with Vincent Lecavalier for sixth most in Lightning history. He had five shifts total and skated 2:47 time on ice. After the 14-minute mark of the first period, Stamkos never played again.
But his impact, even just that one moment of brilliance that gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead, was enough to lift the Bolts to a Game 3 victory and a 2-1 advantage in the series.
"You want to help your team win and you have to find ways when you're not on the ice to still be part of that," Stamkos said about the difficulty of having to watch this postseason from the sideline until Wednesday night. "I tried to do my best in that regard, but it's so painful to just sit and watch and feel like you have no part of the game because you're way more nervous watching the games. You want to have a say and you want to contribute. So, tonight was, it was an amazing experience to get out there and help our team, but it's about winning the next game and going from there."
Stamkos didn't know if he would be able to play Friday's Game 4, saying it was too early to tell. There's a chance he might not be able to play in the series again.
But for one night, Stamkos was back on the ice with the Lightning, scoring goals and sparking his team to victory and everything seemed right again.

2. THE CRUCIAL GOAL
Perhaps feeling overconfident about how they started the game and the lift provided by its captain, Tampa Bay's game dipped after going up 2-0.
Dallas started to find its footing in the game and began pressuring the Lightning net.
On a Bolts power play that followed a brief 4-on-4 skate, the Stars got a goal back when a turnover in their own zone ended up punishing the Lightning, Jason Dickinson scoring his second goal of the series and second this postseason to make it a 2-1 game.
The Stars continued their assault on the Lightning net and were close to tying the game as the period progressed. The Bolts regained their footing as the first wound down, drawing a penalty on Alexander Radulov for hooking with 23 seconds to go.
When the second opened, the Lightning needed to make a statement, whether by scoring on the power play or at least generating momentum, to regain control of the contest.
Victor Hedman provided that moment.
Just 54 seconds into the middle frame, the Lightning re-established their two-goal lead. A puck behind the Stars' net drew the attention of three different players from both teams before squirting loose out in front of goal. Anthony Cirelli was able to break free from the logjam of players and push a pass in front of him to a wide-open Hedman in the high slot, and Hedman's quick wrist shot beat Khudobin to the stick side, putting Tampa Bay in front 3-1.
"I think the first period today, I thought we came out outstanding, we're rolling, then we got that 2-0 lead and it's hard to play perfect all the time," Cooper said. "Give Dallas credit, they pushed and our goalie made some saves and we were just really disappointed when we went in the room with how we played that period, although the last few minutes, kind of we went back to what we do well. That's what's great, the boys go in that room, and it's not just a one-man show dictating what we have to do. It's everybody, and everybody's really committed to the plan but they're really communicating it to each other in the room. So, we've had some down times, but the positivity in our room and the confidence has been exceptional."
Hedman's goal swung momentum back in Tampa Bay's favor and sparked a dominant second period where they scored three goals and outshot the Stars 21-4 to take an insurmountable 5-1 lead into the second break.
It was important for Hedman to score the Bolts' third goal early in the second. Had Dallas weathered that power play and continued to play the way they did over the second half of the first, it's likely they score the tying goal at some point.
And that would have been extremely deflating for a Lightning team that was riding the wave of emotions and energy early in the first period after Stamkos scored to suddenly find themselves back in a tie game.
"I think we just stick to our game plan, putting pucks deep and keep on the forecheck," Nikita Kucherov said about how his team was able to dominate the second period. "The simple play is the way we've been playing, and I think we did a good job of that in the second and the first. But I think overall we played the whole 60 minutes well, and we have to do that two more times."

3. POSITIVE VIBES PROVIDE POSITIVE RESULT
Following Game 3, Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh was asked what he'd remember most from the contest.
His answer was telling.
It wasn't any particular scoring play or save made by Andrei Vasilevskiy.
It was the atmosphere on the bench and the way the Lightning came together as one unit in search of a common goal.
"I think the energy on the bench and the confidence in one another, the trust in one another was something incredible," he said. "We were just rallying so hard for one another and trying to pick each other up here that whole game. Didn't matter who was on the ice or who you were out there with, we tried to play as hard for one another as we could and you just came back to the bench and felt that positivity and it's great that we carried that through the whole game."
Even when Stamkos wasn't able to play any longer after completing his fifth shift, the energy on the bench didn't wane.
"The energy was pretty high after that goal, but we've been in situations where we've lost forwards before in the playoffs, guys getting kicked out, guys leaving with injury and we've been down to 10 forwards, nine forwards, five D at times," McDonagh said "Our group feels like we've got a recipe in how we want to play and no matter who's going over the boards, no matter how many times in a row you're asked to go over, you see the effort and the will from everybody and that's what's been the key for us. No matter who's going over the boards, they're playing really hard for one another."
Tampa Bay's best players were its best players in Game 3. Hedman finished with a goal and two assists to lead the Lightning for scoring and record his third-career three-point game. Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat each chipped in a goal and assist. Kucherov now has 23 assists and 30 points overall. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 22-of-24 shots for his 16th win this postseason, tied for the most in a single playoffs in Lightning history (also: Nikolai Khabibulin - 16 wins in 2004).
But the role players had a big hand in the Game 3 win too. The shutdown line of Alex Killorn-Anthony Cirelli-Tyler Johnson again limited the Stars' top guns. Johnson finished with a game-high nine hits. The third line provided its usual energy and gave the Stars fits with its forechecking. The fourth line, with or without Stamkos, wore the Stars down.
Besides Hedman, Jan Rutta and Kevin Shattenkirk each got on the scoresheet among the defensemen, who as a group were generally clean with their breakout passes and exceptional denying Dallas scoring chances when they got a decent look at goal.
The penalty kill was outstanding and hardly allowed the Stars to get set up in the zone on any of their four power-play opportunities, Dallas going 0-for-4 on the PP.
And Vasilevskiy was calm, collected and confident in net.
The Lightning are getting major contributions from their top players throughout the postseason and in particular in the Stanley Cup Final.
But everybody else has had an impact in the games too, making the Lightning a really difficult outfit to beat right now.
"These whole playoffs we've had contributions from everyone," Point said. "Some guys are asked to score goals, so it's nice to see those guys put the puck in the net. I think the strength of our team has been the depth, and I think tonight was no different, even if guys aren't scoring they're sprinting out the next shift and I think that's what happened tonight."