Burns: Three Things we learned from a shootout win over Minnesota

Sunday night against Minnesota, Tampa Bay was without Brayden Point, who we learned during the first period would be out indefinitely with an upper-body injury suffered a night earlier in the loss to Philadelphia.
The Lightning are already missing another superstar forward as Nikita Kucherov continues to rehab a lower-body injury that required a procedure October 26. He's not expected back until late December-early January.
The Bolts are still without the services of minute-munching defenseman Erik Cernak, who has missed five games but will hopefully return soon.
With the deck stacked against them, however, the Lightning were able to pull out a hard-fought, 5-4 shootout victory over a strong Minnesota Wild team, despite blowing a two-goal lead late in regulation.

"For guys to pick up the slack and eek out two points here, we'll have to do this moving forward, but it's a credit to the guys in there," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said, pointing toward the Bolts' locker room. "I know it's just one game, but hopeful this group has come a long way, the young guys are coming along, which is great to see and hopefully we can keep plugging away and getting points."
A night after the Lightning let a 3-1 lead slip against Philadelphia, the Flyers scoring four unanswered goals in the third period to end the Bolts' three-game win streak and nine-game point streak, Tampa Bay nearly let another one get away on Sunday. But after fighting off a penalty in overtime to get to a shootout, Steven Stamkos was the only player from either team to convert, the Lightning captain sending his First Round shot into the back of the net for his franchise-leading 10th game-deciding goal of his career and second in the last three games.
Brian Elliott made all three stops in the shootout to secure his second win of the season and first at AMALIE Arena as a member of the Lightning in his home debut.
The Lightning could have had an ugly weekend had they not come away with two points Sunday night. But they managed to persevere through some difficult scenarios thrown their way and come out on top with a win against the Wild.

1. CONCERN FOR POINT
Following his team's loss to Philadelphia on Saturday, Jon Cooper said there was a chance Brayden Point might not be able to play the next day against Minnesota.
Point was banged up when he got tripped on a breakaway opportunity with the Lightning down 4-3 to the Devils. He slid hard into the back wall and immediately grabbed his upper body while he rolled around on the ice in pain.
Eventually, he got up on his feet and was able to skate on his own to the bench but was doubled over and didn't look comfortable doing so.
The Lightning were awarded a penalty shot on the play. Point took it, sending it off the crossbar, and he finished the game.
But the next day, he was unable to go, the Lightning inserting Alex Barre-Boulet into his spot in the lineup.
During the first period of Sunday's win, the team announced Point would be out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, a major blow to a team already without another superstar forward in Nikita Kucherov.
How long Point will be sidelined is unknown at this point, Cooper saying after the win the team is waiting for more information before they can make a determination.
"It's going to be tough. We're all waiting to hear," Alex Killorn said. "A guy like him brings so much to our team, he eats so many minutes. Like we've been saying with Kuch, just opportunities for other guys to step up. With him out, it's going to be very difficult, especially a centerman like him."
For a game, the Lightning adjusted and played well. Stamkos took over as the top line center with Ondrej Palat and Barre-Boulet on his wings. Anthony Cirelli returned to center on the second line and produced a two-goal game, just the fifth multi-goal game of his career.
Veteran players like Cirelli, Stamkos, Killorn and Palat are going to have to eat even more minutes while Point is out. And youngsters like Barre-Boulet, Taylor Raddysh, Ross Colton and Boris Katchouk are going to get more opportunities and see their role increase.
It's not an idea situation by any means, but the Lightning feel they have the depth to overcome the temporary setback.
"That's why you've got to train the guys and have the mindset that regardless who's in the lineup, roles are going to change with players but our mission stays the same," Cooper said. "That's what it was tonight."

2. CRISIS AVERTED
The Lightning blew another multi-goal lead in the third period Sunday against Minnesota, a night after allowing a 3-1 lead to evaporate in the third versus Philadelphia.
Unlike a night earlier though, Tampa Bay defended well in the third period. The Lightning held the Wild to just six shots in the period, although the Bolts only had two, a season low for a period, one of those a goal from Alex Barre-Boulet that put them ahead 4-2.
"They're a really good team, and for some reason I think when we play teams like them, we tend to elevate our game in a sense and I think we did that in the third period," Alex Killorn said. "I thought we had a good third period."
The Lightning seemed to be comfortably ushering the game toward the finish line. But then the Wild pulled their goalie coming out of a media timeout with five minutes remaining, and that's when things got dicey for the Bolts.
With 2:48 remaining in regulation, Kevin Fiala got a tip at the net on a long-distance shot to cut the Lightning lead to 4-3. After what happened to the Bolts the night before, you could here the murmurs building in the crowd.
The Lightning got the game down to the final minute. Ondrej Palat had an empty-net attempt from the neutral zone that would have sealed the win in regulation hit the post.
"I think everyone in the building when that hit the post is like, 'Oh no,'" Cooper said.
The Wild kept applying pressure. With 39 seconds to go, they capitalized, Joel Eriksson Ek popping a rebound over Brian Elliott, who made the save on the initial shot while seated but couldn't keep the second-chance opportunity out on a scramble play.
Another game, another blown third-period lead for the Bolts.
"That first 6-on-5 goal goes off a stick, not much you can do about that," Killorn said. "Maybe we could tighten the second one up a little bit. A little bit of a concern, but we still end up winning the game. I think there's some things we can work on, but we're pretty happy with a win against that team even though they did come back."
The Lightning didn't let the setback deter them. They fought off a penalty to Killorn with 1:37 left in overtime and got it to a shootout, where Stamkos was the first skater to shoot and the only one to convert. Elliott stopped successive shootout attempts by Mats Zuccarello, Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov to preserve the win.
Tampa Bay was 26-0-0 last regular season when leading going into the third period. This season, the Lightning are 5-1-2 when leading after two now following the shootout win over the Wild. That's a pretty good record by all accounts, we're just not used to seeing the Lightning lose any late lead after the last couple of seasons, so when it does happen, alarm bells tend to go off.
But they shouldn't.
"The guys pulled it out," Cooper said. "You don't want to give points to another team, but if you're going to give one to a Western Conference team, you're not getting too bent out of shape. But, let's give the team credit for having the leads and getting the lead and extending it in the third. That's what you need to do, in case something like this happens and it happened but we were able to pull it out."

3. BARRE-BOULET'S WILD RIDE
Alex Barre-Boulet woke up Sunday morning in Syracuse.
By the end of the day, he was in Tampa, netting the Bolts' fourth goal and playing a pivotal role in a 5-4 shootout win over the Wild.
Barre-Boulet was re-assigned to Tampa Bay's American Hockey League affiliate in Syracuse on Friday but had to quickly be recalled Sunday with the injury to Point. Cooper said Barre-Boulet was at the airport in Syracuse around 5 or 6 a.m. He had a series of flights he had to take to make it to Tampa in time for the 5 p.m. puck drop.
"He found out this morning or last night, so long travel day for him, a couple connections," Alex Killorn said. "I was really happy when he scored. He was a huge boost for us. When you go up two goals, it helps out."
Barre-Boulet was inserted on Tampa Bay's top line and made an impact in the game. Before his goal, he helped save one when Minnesota generated a 3-on-1 shorthanded chance. Elliott was able to get enough of the shot in tight to slow it down, the puck trickling underneath of him and hitting the post. It sat in the blue paint for a brief moment before Barre-Boulet quickly swooped in and cleared it from danger.
Later, in the third period with the Lightning clinging to a 3-2 lead, Barre-Boulet scored to give the Bolts a bit of a cushion. Steven Stamkos initially sent a shot in from distance. Barre-Boulet was camped out at the lower right circle. The puck came to him, he wheeled around quickly and slung a puck at the net that caught Wild netminder Kaapo Kahkonen off guard and put the Bolts up by two.
"That's what BB can do. He can score," Cooper said. "When you do have the injuries like we have, you need guys to step in and you need your depth to help you out. Good for BB. He's traveled a bit here in the first month and a half of the season and you're just happy for guys like that getting on the sheet."
Barre-Boulet has had an interesting start to the season. He didn't make the Lightning out of training camp and was one of the team's last cuts. The Bolts tried to send him down to Syracuse, but he was claimed off waivers by Seattle.
After spending 11 days with the expansion Kraken, getting his first NHL assist and helping Seattle earn its first ever win in the process, he was placed back on waivers and the Lightning were able to reclaim him.
In seven games with the Lightning, he's scored two goals and, like Sunday, proven to be a valuable depth player in the organization when called upon.