Burns: Three things we learned from a loss to Philly

The Tampa Bay Lightning were on the verge of setting a new franchise record for consecutive wins at home entering Friday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers, the second half of a back-to-back set for both teams.
The Bolts had won eight in a row at AMALIE Arena, tied for the third-longest home win streak in team history. The franchise record of 10 was within sight.
Unfortunately, the Lightning weren't able to overcome sloppy, uninspired play in a 5-3 loss to the Flyers.

"It's going to be a boring answer, but we didn't play well. It's simple," Bolts captain Steven Stamkos said in the locker room when asked what led to the Lightning loss. "We didn't execute, didn't deserve to win, didn't have the will to win and you're not going to win when you don't have those things."

The Lightning allowed multiple power-play goals for the seventh time this season, dropping to 2-4-1 when doing so. The Bolts took six penalties on Friday, tied for the most they've had in a game this season. Starting netminder Peter Budaj was forced to leave the game midway through the third period after getting his left leg plowed into by Scott Laughton.
Not a lot went right for the Lightning against Philly.
Tampa Bay will try to regroup on New Year's Eve when they travel to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Bolts as they play 13 of their next 16 games on the road.
1. UPDATE ON BUDAJ
The injury to Peter Budaj did not look good as the Lightning goalie got his left leg caught underneath him after getting run into by Scott Laughton.
Budaj had to be helped off the ice and put very little weight on his leg at first as he skated off and eventually no weight before heading to the locker room.
But following the game, Budaj was seen walking through the locker room corridor as media entered, perhaps a good sign that the injury isn't as severe as initially feared.
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper was asked about Budaj's status after the game and indicated the Bolts probably won't know more until the morning.
"We're re-evaluating right now, but we may need to call somebody up," Cooper said.
Up until his injury, Budaj had played well in just his seventh start of the season. Unfortunately, his teammates in front of him didn't help out much. Most of Philly's goals came near the crease and were scored on rebounds, a lot of those rebounds coming after Budaj had initially made a great save.
The Bolts' coverage in front of Budaj left a lot to be desired Friday night.
"He's got one of the toughest jobs in sports and competes in practice and gets himself ready," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "He battled tonight, made some great saves to keep us in the game and give us a chance to win and we didn't help him today."
Another good sign: despite the injury, Budaj returned to the Lightning bench late in the game to support his squad.
"That's why he's an unreal teammate," Cooper said.
2. STAMMER TIME
During an intermission interview with Fox Sports Sun's Paul Kennedy at Thursday's game against Montreal, Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos told Kennedy the four-day Christmas break allowed him to reset and re-evaluate his game. During that self-evaluation, Stamkos determined he needed to shoot the puck more.
His play on the ice the last two games has reflected that newfound attitude.
Against the Canadiens, Stamkos took a team-high seven shots, matching his season high, and netted two goals for his third multi-goal game of the season.
And again a day later, Stamkos' shoot-first mentality paid dividends.
He scored his 16th goal of the season and third over the last two games on a first period power play, ripping a one-timer from his favored spot in the left circle.

Stamkos finished with seven shot attempts against Philadelphia.
"I take what I'm given," Stamkos said. "Obviously, I want to help produce and score goals. Just trying to get as many shots through as possible. The more shots, the better chance of scoring."
Certainly, Stamkos has been an offensive juggernaut for the Lightning so far this season. But a shoot-first Stamkos gives the Bolts yet another weapon to add to a team already leading the NHL for scoring.
3. THE BACKBREAKER
Thursday night against Montreal, trailing 1-0, the Lightning turned the complexion of the game late in the second period when Nikita Kucherov chased down a puck in the offensive zone and zipped a blind, behind-the-back pass into the slot for Stamkos to slam home and tie the game with 12 seconds to go in the period. Thirty seconds into the third period, Brayden Point scored the go-ahead goal, and the Lightning never looked back.
On Friday, nearly an identical set of circumstances played out.
Except this time, the Lightning were the victim.
After Point made the score 2-2 with less than five minutes remaining in the second period, the Bolts looked to enter the second intermission tied.
But Philadelphia capitalized on a late push in the period, Sean Couturier slamming home a rebound with 12 seconds to go before the break after Budaj made an unreal save to deny Claude Giroux initially, putting the Flyers back in front 3-2.
Just 1:53 into the third period, Brandon Manning scored the game-winner, a quick-strike series from the Flyers broken up by the second intermission that proved to ultimately be the Bolts' downfall Friday night.
"It's funny how it works," Cooper said. "(Thursday) night, we score late in the second and early in the third and what does Philly do to us? It just sucked the life out of us."
The Lightning were already playing shaky before those two goals but scrapped and clawed and battled their way back to level terms on Point's marker.
Once Philly was able to net a pair in quick succession, the Bolts didn't have anything left to rally once again.