Burns: Three Things we learned from a rare win in D.C.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have yet to hold a lead at any point this season during regulation yet have two victories through their first three games of 2021-22.
The Lightning rallied for another overtime road win on Saturday in a building where they haven't had a lot of success. The Bolts earned a 2-1 OT victory over the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena to improve to 2-1-0 this season and sweep their first road trip of the season.

Tampa Bay entered Saturday's contest only 15-33-7 (.336 point percentage) at Capital One Arena. The Lightning owned just a .385 point percentage all-time in the regular season against the Caps, home or away, their lowest against any NHL opponent.
But Steven Stamkos sent the Lightning home a winner with his shot past Caps goalie Vitek Vanecek on a 2-on-1 rush, Stamkos calling his own number from the right circle as Victor Hedman sped down the middle of the ice to provide an option for the Bolts captain.
After giving up six goals in each of their first two contests, the Lightning shut down a potent Washington offensive attack allowing only one goal in a well-played, hard-fought contest.
Overshadowing the thrilling win, however, was the loss of Nikita Kucherov and Jan Rutta.
Kucherov left the game in the third period after making minimal contact with the Caps Garnet Hathaway and was bent over at the waist and skating gingerly as he made his way to the bench. He stayed on the bench for a moment before walking slowly back to the locker room, where he remained for the rest of the game.
Rutta completed his last shift with seven-and-a-half minutes left in the second period and never returned.
"I'm not hitting any panic buttons yet," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said about the two injuries. "Let's set what the evaluation is when we get back and go from there. We only have two games next week, so it's probably a good time for a little bit of a lighter schedule."
Injuries aside, the Lightning played a terrific road game in D.C. and were rewarded with a satisfying victory.
Here's Three Things we learned about the Bolts following another gutty win.

1. O Captain! My Captain!
In recent seasons, superstar forward Steven Stamkos has been overshadowed at times by Nikita Kucherov's rise to becoming one of the best players in the NHL and Brayden Point's ascension as a top centerman in the League.
But so far this season, Stamkos has been the main cog in the Lightning attack.
Stamkos entered Saturday's game leading the NHL for scoring along with teammate Victor Hedman and Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar. And the captain continued his torrid scoring pace to begin 2021-22, posting two points in Washington, including the game-winner with just 15 seconds remaining in overtime to pace the Lightning in another victory.
Stamkos now can claim first all alone in the League's scoring chase, at least for one night. He's began a season with multiple points in each of the opening three games for the first time in his 14 seasons in the NHL.
"I thought (the Capitals) had a good start to the game, and we had a better second half," said Stamkos, who finished with a goal and an assist Saturday night. "Going into the third, we knew it's only a one-goal game. We just need to get one. It was one of those nights where both goalies were playing well, and it was a low-scoring game. We battled. We got one there, and it was nice to see one go in in overtime as well."
The game-winner was vintage Stamkos. Taking the puck off the face-off dot after Pierre-Edouard Bellemare tied up Evgeny Kuznetsov on a draw inside the Lighting zone, Stamkos started up the other way and led a 2-on-1 rush with Victor Hedman charging hard to the net on his left. Stamkos knew time was winding down in the overtime session. He fired a shot when he got to the right circle, hoping he could find a way past Vanecek, or, at the very least, produce a rebound for Hedman to clean up.
There was no need for the Swedish defenseman, however. Stamkos' shot beat Vanecek clean at the far post, and the Bolts had their second overtime victory in their last two games.
"I was thinking, put my head down and skate hard," Stamkos said on the winning play. "I didn't know exactly how much time was left. I knew it was probably the last rush of the game, so I was going to shoot it and it's nice to see that one go in."
Stamkos scored his ninth career overtime goal, passing Vincent Lecavalier and pulling within one of Martin St. Louis for most in Lightning history.
Stamkos also recorded his 872nd and 873rd career points on Saturday and trails Lecavalier by just one for second place among Tampa Bay's all-time scoring leaders.
At the rate Stamkos is going to start the season, he'll pass Lecavalier when the Lightning next take the ice Tuesday at home against Florida and might even have St. Louis' franchise-record 953 points in his sights this season.

2. A QUESTION MARK BECOMES A STRENGTH
Tampa Bay's penalty kill expected to take a hit this season, at least early, as it lost three of its best killers in the offseason in Yanni Gourde (selected by Seattle in the Expansion Draft), Barclay Goodrow (signed with NY Rangers) and Blake Coleman (signed with Calgary).
Who would pick up the slack among the forwards on the penalty kill? Where could the Lightning get their relentlessness from with the puck-hounding trio gone?
Well, through the first three games of the season anyway, the Lightning haven't missed a beat on the penalty kill. Offseason addition Pierre-Edouard Bellemare has filled in admirably as one of the first forwards over the boards, winning face-off draws and being in the right position in the Bolts' structure. Mathieu Joseph has used his speed to create a couple dangerous shorthanded breakaway chances. Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli continue to be reliable killers among the forwards. And some younger players like Ross Colton and Taylor Raddysh have gotten into the mix and responded as well.
Saturday, the penalty kill was called upon four times against maybe the best power play in the NHL.
All four times, they were up to the challenge, including critical kills late in regulation with the score tied 1-1 and again in overtime.
"What's made us successful the last couple of years is the ability to play in these types of games," Stamkos said. "In close games, rely on our goaltending, rely on our special teams, rely on our solid 5-on-5 play. We saw a lot of that tonight. It's weird, you're seeing some teams you haven't seen for a while. They're a really good team. To stop them on the penalty kill for us tonight was huge. They had a couple good looks, especially at the end of the game and in overtime, and we did a great job of killing those off."
The Lightning drew energy from their penalty killers coming up big against a Capitals power-play unit that features some of the best weapons in the game with Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson and Evgeny Kuznetsov, among others.
The crucial kill came in overtime. Mikhail Sergachev was whistled for a borderline cross-check on Kuznetsov along the wall with 3:39 to go. The Lightning stayed compact in their three-man unit. They shut down any seam passes. They shaded toward Ovechkin anytime he wound up with his lethal one-timer in the left circle. And they pressured puck handlers at the right times and got necessary clears to get out of a tricky situation where goals are the norm more often than not.
"Guys were laying out blocking shots and getting the clears when we needed them," Cooper said. "It was probably the turning point for us."
The Lightning penalty kill has given up just one goal in 10 times shorthanded, a 90 percent success rate to start the season. For a unit that had a lot of question marks entering the season, they've been one of the bigger surprises for the Bolts in the season's opening week.
"They can be momentum shifters in a game, and it certainly was tonight," Stamkos said. "That's one of the best power-play groups in the league, and they had a couple chances to win the game late in the game and our PK guys blocking shots, Vasy was great, so hat's off to them."

3. BIG CAT BOUNCES BACK
The first two games of the season were a bit uneven for Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy.
He gave up three goals in a season-opening loss to Pittsburgh, then allowed six more in an overtime win in Detroit, just the 10thtime in his career he's surrendered that many.
It wasn't like Vasilevskiy was playing poorly, however. There might have been a goal or two he'd like to have back, but mainly it was defensive breakdowns in front of him that allowed opponents multiple dangerous chances in the opening two games.
Saturday night in Washington was more in line what Bolts fans expect to see: the Lightning playing tight, structured defense in front of its net and Vasilevskiy shutting down anything that makes its way to the net.
Vasilevskiy had by far his best game of the season, stopping 32-of-33 Washington shots in the 2-1 overtime victory.
"That's more to our standard after a couple iffy games the first two," Stamkos said. "Starts with Vasy. He was great, his usual self tonight, and we responded."
Vasilevskiy made game-saving stops throughout the night. With Washington having just scored to go up 1-0 and pushing for more at the end of the second period, Ovechkin fired a shot that went off the post, caromed off Vasilevskiy's back and was headed for the open goal mouth. But Vasilevskiy felt the puck hit him, reached around and was able to pull it back off the goal line before it could completely cross.
The officials initially deemed the play a goal on the ice. Replay, however, showed there was still a piece of the puck left to cross the line when Vasilevskiy put his glove on it and brought it back from disaster.
Going down 2-0 right before the break might have been too much for the Lightning to overcome, especially considering they felt pretty good about their play to that point.
"I liked a lot of our game," Cooper said. "To be down 1-0 I thought was a little bit of a disservice because I thought we had ample chances. It was one of those games where the process had to take over. I told the guys, 'Don't chase the game. We are totally fine.' That was it. We stuck with it."
Vasilevskiy continued to deny the Capitals in the third period. After Mikhail Sergachev scored on a one-timer from the blue line to tie the game 1-1 at 4:23 of the third, the Caps pushed back. One sequence in particular nearly had them back in the lead. Evgeny Kuznetsov got the puck all alone in the slot and fired on net, Vasilevskiy making a difficult save to push it aside. With the puck still in the zone and the Caps continuing to pressure, Ovechkin was free on the back post and had the go-ahead goal on his stick, but Vasilevskiy slid over to deny with the right leg.
"There was a lot of just huge moments in the game for us," Cooper said. "But from start to finish I liked a lot of what went on."
Vasilevskiy collected just his fifth win in 12 regular season contests against the Capitals.
And the Lightning finally played defense to the standard they've set over the last two seasons.