Burns: Three Things we learned from a tough OT loss in Toronto

Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper was asked to explain how it felt to lose a 1-0 lead in the final minute of a game in Toronto off a failed clearing attempt and then fall 2-1 in overtime to end the Bolts' three-game win streak.
"It's brutal," Cooper explained.
No doubt, Thursday's loss in Toronto is one that will haunt the Lightning for quite a while.

Tampa Bay held a 1-0 lead for nearly the duration of the game, Corey Perry connecting with Patrick Maroon on a scoring play 13:16 in to put the Lightning ahead.
Andrei Vasilevskiy nearly made that one-goal lead stand up as he turned in another phenomenal performance in a stretch of them for the Vezina candidate netminder. Vasilevskiy stopped 32-of-34 saves to improve to 3-0-2 over his last five starts.
Unfortunately, Toronto goalie Jack Campbell might have been even better.
Campbell made several point-blank saves, including a handful midway to late in the third period to keep the Maple Leafs within striking distance. And then the Leafs struck in the dying seconds, capitalizing on a Lightning mistake.
Victor Hedman had the puck on his stick at the goal line and attempted to lift it in the air to clear. But the puck never made it out of the zone, John Tavares gloving it down and then going to the net, where Mitch Marner centered a puck for him to redirect past Vasilevskiy to tie the game 1-1 with 41.1 seconds left in regulation
Hedman was asked after the game if his stick got caught of if he just flubbed the clear.
"I don't know, shit happens sometimes and that was one of those times," he said.
In overtime, Hedman slashed Tavares after the Leafs captain got behind everybody at the blue line, and Toronto made the Lightning pay, Willian Nylander ripping a one-timer from the left circle at 2:43 of the extra session to complete the improbable, come-from-behind win for the Leafs.
"We felt like we really gave a point away tonight," Cooper said.
Here's how it happened.
1. CAMPBELL OUTDUELS VASILEVSKIY
Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jack Campbell were the two best players on the ice in Toronto.
Which is why both teams were able to earn at least a point.
Vasilevskiy did his best work in the second period when Toronto pushed hard for the tying goal and outplayed the Lightning for the majority of the 20 minutes. The Big Cat started his big second period by making a tremendous left leg pad save on a Toronto rush. Later he kicked out William Nylander's tip attempt in front with the same leg. And before the period ended, he denied Wayne Simmonds on a breakaway attempt.
Vasilevskiy made saves on all 13 shots he faced in the second period.
Toronto held the Lightning without a shot for 12-and-a-half minutes from six minutes into the period nearly until it expired.
"We got careless with the puck, turned pucks over, fed their transition game," Victor Hedman said of the Bolts' second period. "Think we played good in the D zone, but too many odd mans against. It's not the way we want to play."
Campbell was brilliant in the third and allowed the Leafs to stick close when the Lightning had numerous opportunities to put the game out of reach. Midway through the period, Brayden Point got in alone for a breakaway. Campbell made the save. Mathieu Joseph was there quickly to follow up on the rebound. Campbell stopped that too.
With five minutes to go, Steven Stamkos fired off an open wrist shot from the slot that Campbell denied. Stamkos followed with a backhander Campbell swatted away with the glove while on his stomach.
Truthfully, the Lightning had every opportunity to score a second goal, and with the way they were playing defensively, secure the victory and prevent the late-game heroics from the Leafs from ever materializing.
They just couldn't find a way around Campbell.
"We had really, really good Grade-A chances there, and Campbell made some good saves," Pat Maroon said.
2. A FULL 60 ESCAPES THE LIGHTNING
Victor Hedman summed up Tampa Bay's play in regulation, saying the first period was "really good," the second period was "awful" and the third was "better."
The Lightning nearly got away with playing about 30 minutes of good hockey too but were punished in the end when mistakes caught up to them and the Leafs were able to pounce.
The first was one of Tampa Bay's best periods this season, maybe even its best. The Lightning had three Grade-A scoring chances through the first six minutes. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare thought he'd found the breakthrough goal when his open shot from the slot, set up by a heads-up pass from Mathieu Joseph, rang off the crossbar and then the post before bouncing away. Bellemare threw his hands in the air like he'd scored. Any second, you expected to hear the horn go off stopping play to review.
But the sound never came, replay showing the puck didn't cross the line.
Later in the period, however, Pat Maroon made sure his shot was in, slipping a shot through Campbell on a rush, set up by a great pass from the right wing by Corey Perry for his first point as a member of the Lightning.
After so many near-misses through the first month of the season, Maroon and his line was finally rewarded for their standout play.
"I think our line's been playing pretty solid defensively and creating energy for our team in the O zone," Maroon said. "Obviously wasn't our best tonight, but it's always nice to get on the scoresheet and get our line rolling here. Hopefully the floodgates kind of open for our line here and get things rolling, but it's always nice to get that one."
The Lightning couldn't carry their momentum from the first into the second, however. Toronto took over the game and pressured Vasilevskiy's net throughout. Only a monumental effort from the Russian kept the Bolts in the lead after the middle frame was completed.
"The second period was just not the way you want to play the game," Cooper said. "Stuff caught up with us, and when you turn the puck over like that and we did that in the last obviously when they tied it, you just can't keep doing that. For two years we haven't been doing that and we're making a habit of it in the start of the season."
The third period was more even, the Lightning getting back to their game but the Leafs also creating chances. Entering Thursday's game, the Bolts were 2-0-0 when coming into the third period with a lead. They'd been really good at seeing wins over the finish line.
Tampa Bay felt confident about the way it was closing out the Toronto game too. A late mistake would be their undoing, however.
"I thought we had our chances," Maroon said. "But, again, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot again with not careless plays but plays we usually don't make. It's unfortunate. I'm happy to get the one point, but we should have had two points tonight if we just played the way were capable of playing like we did in the first."
3. BEATING THEMSELVES
Following the game, Jon Cooper lamented his team handed the Maple Leafs the victory.
"The frustrating part is I didn't feel like the Leafs beat us," Cooper said. "I feel like we just beat ourselves."
That comment drew the ire of Leafs nation once it made its way online.
But it was true.
The Lightning should have left Toronto with a win and two points, even with their sub-standard play in the second period.
Tampa Bay followed the recipe that's given the team so much success over the last couple of seasons. The Lightning started strong, grabbing the game's opening goal. They leaned on their all-world goaltender to keep them in the lead, a little too much in the second period for their liking but they stayed in front nonetheless. And then they shut down a potent Leafs attack in the third period to prevent them from really getting any decent looks at goal.
Until the breakdown in the final minute with the Leafs net empty and Toronto throwing everything it had at the Lightning net to try to salvage something from the game.
"We have quite a bit of turnover up front," Cooper said. "Five of our 12 forwards weren't full time with us last year or even with us, so it's a work in progress. But, we do have a core group here that knows how to push games over the finish line, and we're just not quite doing that yet."
In overtime, the Lightning got caught in a change after a shot attempt missed the net. Hedman was attempting to get off the ice, but Toronto regained possession of the puck and sent a stretch pass up ahead to Tavares at the blue line. Hedman raced over to try to get back in the play and slashed Tavares in the process of trying to break up his attempt at the net.
On the ensuing 4-on-3 power play, the Lightning penalty kill, which had been stellar all night, including killing a full two-minute 5-on-3 in the first period, nearly held again. But toward the end of the power play, the Leafs got the Bolts moving side to side and were able to slip a puck to Nylander in the left circle for a quick one-timer the talented forward buried.
"We've had some good stretches and some not so good, but I think we're trending in the right direction," Hedman said. "It feels like we are. We've just got to be more cognizant about the way we want to play for 60 minutes."