Burns: Three Things we learned from an impressive win in San Jose

For everything that went wrong for the Lightning in a loss at Anaheim Friday night, Saturday's performance in San Jose was a 180-turnaround for a determined Tampa Bay squad.
The Lightning scored four times in the first period, overwhelming the Sharks with an offensive barrage they had no answer in slowing down.
The Bolts scored seven times in the contest, finishing their three-game road trip through California with a 7-1 victory in San Jose, matching their season high for goals set three times previously, all instances coming in road contests.

The Lightning have won four in a row over the Sharks now by a combined 23-5 score.
The latest installment was never in doubt.
After San Jose got on the board late in the first period with the only goal it would score, the Lightning quickly re-established its four-goal lead on Brayden Point's 16th marker of the season at 6:24 of the second period. Alex Killorn (PPG) and Ross Colton scored back-to-back goals in 33 seconds early in the third period for the 7-1 final. Colton finished with two goals for the first multi-goal game of his career.
Tampa Bay pulled back into a tie with Florida atop the NHL standings on points following Saturday's win.
"Execution was there tonight where it really wasn't there for most of the start of the last game," said Steven Stamkos, who scored his 20th goal of the season for the game-winner.
The Lightning have four days off before opening a three-game homestand Thursday against the New Jersey Devils.
Here's what we learned from the dominant conclusion to their road trip.

1. AN EXPECTED RESPONSE
Steven Stamkos said he was "frustrated" with the Lightning's start in a 5-1 loss a night earlier in Anaheim
On the chance to get back on the ice Saturday with little time to dwell on the defeat, Stamkos said, "I expect a much better start to the game. Who knows what will happen but our group will bounce back. They usually do after efforts like this."
Bounce back the Lightning did.
Where they were sluggish to start in Anaheim, the Lightning had jump from the start in San Jose and jumped all over the Sharks. The kid line, the "oldest kid line in the league" Brayden Point joked on the bench during the game, started in San Jose and netted the opening goal when Ross Colton scored the first of his two goals 3:17 into the contest.
"I think just from the puck drop everyone was ready to go," Colton said. "Guys were playing fast, playing the right way. I thought we were all over them on the forecheck. We weren't giving their D any time to break the puck out. We saw that from the opening shift I think. That kind of just set the tone. I thought guys played physical, the D were moving their feet and giving them no time in our own end and that led to a lot of offense for us."
Stamkos scored his 20th goal of the season, the 12th time in his 14 NHL seasons he's reached the 20-goal mark, to make it 2-0 Lightning at 7:45 of the first period. Mathieu Joseph and Corey Perry scored on rebounds to put Tampa Bay ahead 4-0 by the third media timeout of the first period.
All four lines were rolling for the Lightning Saturday night. The top line was dynamic with Anthony Cirelli filling in for Ondrej Palat. Stamkos' line with Alex Killorn and Mathieu Joseph played with the puck in the offensive zone and continually generated chances. The School Bus line reunited and played its familiar below-the-circles game to maintain possession. And the kid line, which was the Bolts' best in the Anaheim loss, continued to keep the puck away from the opposition and not give them any offensive chances.
"When we're executing, it's tough for the other team," Stamkos said. "We have so much speed and skill in transition and breaking out of our zone clean, and there just wasn't those turnovers that cost us a little bit last game. I thought in the first especially to get out to that lead was big and the response that we needed."
Stamkos said his words a night earlier were not so much a prediction but just a belief in knowing what would happen in San Jose because he's seen it before with this team. The Lightning have not lost consecutive games in regulation all season.
"It wasn't if, it was we knew we didn't have the effort at the beginning of the Anaheim game," Stamkos said. "We talked about it. So that was the gameplan. Obviously, we executed very well. To come out like that on a back-to-back, we got in, I know it's still California, but we got in I think 2 in the morning to the hotel last night. To come out and have that effort, have that jump at the beginning was impressive. Just a nice, well-rounded game for us today."

2. THE LIGHTNING ARE A SELF-CORRECTING TEAM
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper didn't have to dress down his team after the disappointing loss in Anaheim Friday night.
He didn't even need to talk to them.
Cooper said he didn't address his team until their pregame talk prior to the San Jose game. The team knew its effort against the Ducks was unacceptable and there was no need for the head coach to belabor the point.
"I guess maybe that's just a little bit of us knowing each other from the coaching staff all the way down," Cooper said. "We knew what had to be done today, we addressed some things in pregame and that was the result."
Tampa Bay has made following up poor performances with positive ones a hallmark of its back-to-back Stanley Cup runs. The Lightning haven't lost consecutive games over the last two playoff seasons.
It's almost like when they lose, it angers them to the point they don't want to experience that frustration again.
"We just all know that that's unacceptable. That can't happen that performance last night," Colton said. "I thought we turned it on a little bit towards the end of the game but from the puck drop we need to be ready to go. That was kind of the attitude we wanted to have tonight. I thought we rolled four lines. Everyone was ready to go just playing the right way."
Tampa Bay didn't have much time to stew over its loss in Anaheim. The Lightning were playing the second half of a back-to-back in San Jose and improved to 4-0-1 in the second half of a back-to-back. The Bolts arrived at their San Jose hotel around 2 in the morning. There was no morning skate. It was sleep, recover and get ready to get right back out on the ice for another game.
"There was a renewed focus," Cooper said. "They knew what they had to do, and they delivered."

3. THE GREAT PROFESSIONAL
Lightning backup netminder Brian Elliott was supposed to start the first half of a back-to-back January 10 at New Jersey but saw that opportunity evaporate when the game was postponed due to Covid issues within the Devils.
So when Elliott set up between the pipes in San Jose, it was his first start since December 31 versus the New York Rangers.
The long layoff didn't seem to affect him in the slightest.
Elliott made 27-of-28 saves to improve to 4-2-2 this season.
"It's not an easy job when you're backing up Vasy, that's for sure," Stamkos said. "Moose played outstanding tonight. Just a great professional. You have to wait a long time in between starts for him and he's a pro. He works. He comes to the rink. Works extremely hard in practice and in the gym, and he's ready. I don't know how they do it. I think it was three weeks or whatever in between starts. He came out. He looked fresh. He looked like he was seeing the puck early and he made some big-time saves for us. It was nice to get the win because he hadn't played for a while, and I thought he played really well."
Elliott made the timely saves in the Lightning's runaway victory. His most important came early in the second period when he reached behind him to pull a puck off the goal line, with the aid of Victor Hedman helping to trap the puck against his body. A shot from the point by Brent Burns was tipped and the rebound at the net went through Elliott before he was able to recover in time.
Had San Jose scored there, that would have brought it to within two goals at 4-2 and swung momentum toward he Sharks having scored the last two goals.
After Elliott's timely stop, Brayden Point scored from the slot on a well-worked 3-on-1 rush to re-establish the Lightning's four-goal lead and effectively end the game.
Elliott had a similar save in the third period with the Lightning leading 7-1, trapping a puck on the ice that went through him five hole and hit the post.
Elliott earned his first victory since December 5 in Philadelphia.
"It's a tough job, but there's a reason why he's still in the league," Cooper said of Elliott. "He knows how to control his mindset of going stretches without playing. He's constantly working on his body, stretching and working to keep himself in this position to be able to play these games when they're so sporadic. This one's got to be tougher for him just because he was supposed to play that Jersey game and that gets knocked out for Covid and we've got kind of things set up for him. And so that's tough to deal with. I think somebody that's been around the block here knows how to deal with that a lot better than maybe a 22-year-old kid does.