Burns: Three Things we learned from a tough OT loss to Carolina

The good news for the Tampa Bay Lightning is they extended their season-long point streak to six games Tuesday night, having gone 4-0-2 starting with a 5-1 win in Pittsburgh October 26.
The bad news?
The Lightning let another lead slip away in the third period on Tuesday and lost in overtime 2-1 to Carolina in a game they felt they should have come away with both points.

Special teams was the difference in the overtime loss. The Lightning went 0-for-4 on the power play and registered just one combined shot with the man-advantage according to head coach Jon Cooper. The Bolts earned a power play with five minutes remaining in a 1-all game and couldn't generate anything positive out of it, much like they did all night.
Meanwhile, the Lightning penalty kill did a fantastic job for most of the night but were beaten on Carolina's final power-play opportunity, the Canes taking advantage when the Bolts came out of their structure to find the tying goal with 10:04 remaining in regulation.
"It's frustrating in the sense that these are games where we usually win because of our power play in the past," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "There've been times this year where we're in these tight games where our goalie gives us a chance or our penalty kill gives us a chance and the PP has a chance to get an extra point. And we've been in a few where it hasn't. That's the frustrating part because I think we're leaving points out there."
Much like the overtime loss in Toronto on Thursday, the Lightning will take the point against a quality opponent.
But they feel they should be talking about a six-game win streak right now, not a six-game point streak.
Here's how we saw it shake out from the press box.

1. BAD CALL A BIG BLOW TO BOLTS
The Lightning were leading the Hurricanes 1-0 in the third period. They had survived Carolina's early push to start the period and were generating one of their own. Brayden Point nearly provided the Bolts a 2-0 lead when his shot from the slot took a deflection on its way toward goal, went over Canes goalie Frederik Andersen, bounced off the cross bar and landed in the blue paint behind Andersen before being cleared from danger by the Canes.
Moments later, the Lightning were still pressuring the goal when Steven Stamkos, setting up near the net, was bowled over from behind by a Carolina skater right into Andersen. An arm went up from the official, and play was allowed to continue while the Lightning had possession of the puck. The immediate thought was the Bolts were going to get a power play.
Except a couple seconds later, the whistle was blown, play was stopped and an incredulous Stamkos was sent to the penalty box for interference.
"I did not get an explanation," Stamkos said when asked if the referees told him anything as he was heading to the box. "I think it was just a bang-bang play, and he didn't see it. He saw the goalie down, he saw me down and I think he just probably guessed at what happened because if he saw it, he would have seen I got pushed in."
On the ensuing power play, Carolina's fifth of the game, they got the Lightning out of their structure and were able to work a 3-on-1 down low, Vincent Trocheck feeding Teuvo Teravainen across the crease for the tying goal with Lightning fans booing vociferously at how the bad call changed the complexion of the contest.
"It's frustrating because it's a 1-nothing game and they score on that power play and it gets them back in it," Stamkos said. "At the same time, stuff happens fast and calls aren't always going to go your way. In my mind anyway, I think that's what happened and it's unfortunate because it cost us a goal."
Jon Cooper said the officials admitted they might have saw it wrong after the fact, but little good that did the Lightning, who were doing everything they could to protect their one-goal lead and ended up getting stung when a bad call didn't go their way.
"That's what happens in a fast game," Cooper said. "But, you've got to kill it off, and we didn't."

2. PLAYING SHORT ON THE BACK END
The Lightning were already without one of their top four defensemen against Carolina with Mikhail Sergachev serving the second game of his two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head on Toronto's Mitch Marner.
That's another harsh call that seemed to go against the Lightning. One game was probably warranted for Sergachev's infraction but two might have been a bit much.
Coupled with the injury to Zach Bogosian in the season opener, the Lightning were relying on some non-regulars like Fredrik Claesson and Cal Foote to eat some more minutes and take on expanded roles against a really good Carolina team.
Then with the Canes on a power play with about six minutes remaining in the first period, Erik Cernak blocked a shot with what looked to be his arm and went off the ice. He didn't return, the team announcing during the second intermission he'd suffered an upper-body injury.
Cernak skated just 4:21, dishing out two hits, taking a shot and blocking a shot before exiting.
Following the game, Jon Cooper said the news on Cernak wasn't positive.
"There's concern, yeah. It's definitely not going to be day-to-day," Cooper said.
Missing three of their top six defensemen for most of the contest, the Lightning battled throughout on the back end. Victor Hedman skated a season-high 29:40, two nights after posting 28:53 time on ice, about three minutes above his season average.
Ryan McDonagh also recorded a season high for time on ice, skating 28:22.
Jan Rutta logged a career-high 23:43 and was over 20 minutes for the first time this season.
Even Foote (16:18) and Claesson (13:28) were well above what they would typically skate in a game when all six defensemen stay healthy.
The fact the Lightning were still able to get a point out of the game against a team that only had one regulation loss through 10 games says a lot about how the Bolts battled.
It's just too bad that effort wasn't rewarded with both points.
"He's a great defender first and foremost," McDonagh said of Cernak. "Right-handed shot for us. Plays a ton of minutes. You lose a top four player like that, it puts a lot of extra minutes on guys. But I thought we handled it pretty well. Coop tries to simplify and help us back there. You look at that picture and find a way to get one point, I think that's one of the positives out of this."

3. A HEROIC 5-ON-3 KILL
In the first minutes of the second period, Carolina was handed a golden opportunity to net the game's opening goal when Jan Rutta (delay of game) and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (cross-checking) were whistled for penalties 26 seconds apart, giving the Hurricanes 1:34 of a 5-on-3.
Early in the penalty kill, Ryan McDonagh blocked a shot and appeared to be in serious pain. He doubled over below the goal line and struggled to skate. But he had to stay out there because Carolina still had the puck in the zone and the Bolts were barely hanging on by a thread to keep the puck out of their net.
"I think the crowd felt it," Cooper said McDonagh's painful sacrifice. "It's a big reason we've won a couple championships here is the effort and guts the guys have shown."
A couple seconds later, a rocket of a shot by Martin Necas was kicked away by the left skate of Andrei Vasilevskiy. The puck directly struck Vasilevskiy's skate blade, however, knocking it loose behind the goal.
The Lightning now had a hurting McDonagh and a goalie on one skate for nearly the duration of the 5-on-3. Vasilevskiy was forced into a permanent butterfly, anchoring his skates on opposite posts to try to keep pucks out since he couldn't skate back and forth through his crease properly.
Somehow, the Lightning managed to hold on and get out of the situation unscathed.
"I think it definitely gave our team some jump," McDonagh said. "You saw us get on the forecheck a little bit more and have some offensive looks. Anytime you can get through something like that, it gives you momentum. I don't think I've ever seen a skate blade off like that, at least happen to my team. I remember it happening way back in the day to Tuukka Rask when we were playing against them. Incredible job by Vasy to gut that one out and we found a way to kill it off. It was great to see our bench get a lift there, and we find a way to get that first goal."
About three minutes later, the Lightning struck for the game's opening goal, Mathieu Joseph winning a battle in the corner, utilizing a pick from Alex Killorn to get some separation and selling the shot from the slot before dishing to Steven Stamkos on the back post for the captain to hammer into the net.
At that point, the Bolts had all of the momentum, having killed off the improbable 5-on-3 and getting on the board first.
But the Canes would find a way to claw their way back.
"It's worked against us the last few times," Stamkos said of the Bolts' 5-on-3 kill. "Usually that's the kiss of death when you don't score on a 5-on-3, you usually don't win the game. We killed off one in Toronto. We lose. We killed off one here. We lose. We definitely built some momentum off it. That was a pretty inspiring shift from the guys that were out there blocking shots, from Vasy having no skate blade and sticking in there."