Burns: Three things we learned from the Lightning's win in the Motor City

The Tampa Bay Lightning have shown a resiliency this season not seen since the 2014-15 team that advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
That squad never lost three games (or more) in a row until the Chicago Blackhawks reeled off three straight to defeat the Lightning 4-2 in the Cup Final.
The 2017-18 version of the Bolts has shown, at least through the first half of the season, a similar refusal to let multiple losses pile up.

The Lightning entered Detroit's Little Caesars Arena having dropped two in a row following a shootout loss in Montreal and an embarrassing 6-3 defeat a night earlier in Ottawa. The Bolts were concluding a five-game road trip, their longest to date of the season. They were playing the second half of a back-to-back.
The tricky circumstances didn't matter. This Lightning team doesn't let losses pile up.
Tampa Bay capped the road trip with a 5-2 defeat of Detroit, the Lightning winning for the 10th-consecutive time over the Red Wings in the regular season. The Bolts finish the road trip with a 3-1-1 record and seven of a possible 10 points and return home for two games before a well-deserved five-day break.

The Lightning and Red Wings played a hard-hitting, physical affair that took a frightening turn when Dan Girardi was hit up high by a heavy one-timer off the stick of Martin Frk and had to be assisted off the ice.
In Three Things from a road-trip-capping win, we'll update Girardi's status as well as examine why the Bolts continue to have success in the Motor City.
1. GOOD NEWS FOR GIRARDI
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper called it one of the scariest moments he's witnessed in hockey at all levels of his coaching career.
With a little more than six minutes left in the second period and Detroit on a power play with a chance to tie the game, Martin Frk teed up a one-timer from the left circle. Like he's done so often this season, Dan Girardi slid down to a knee to try to block the shot. Since entering the league in the 2007-08 season, Girardi has more blocked shots than any other NHL player. He leads the Lightning this season for blocked shots and came into Sunday's game ranked tied for seventh in the NHL.
Frk's heavy blast sailed, however, and the puck ended up hitting Girardi, who turned his back at the last moment, somewhere between the upper shoulder and the back of the head.
Girardi immediately fell to the ice and both teams' medical staffs rushed out to attend to him. Girardi sat up after a few moments and was helped off the ice by Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman.
As play continued, word came out that Girardi was okay.

He wouldn't return to the game, however, a shame since he was having one of his best nights as a member of the Lightning after scoring the game's opening goal and assisting on the second.
After the game, Cooper said Girardi was doing a lot better than how the play looked initially.
"Typical Dan, he still takes it in stride and has light-hearted comments about it," Cooper said. "I just can't say enough about that kid. That kid's got guts man."
Cooper said Girardi still has to go through a few tests, but all indications are Girardi escaped serious injury, which is certainly a relief.
"Hopefully everything's going to be okay," Cooper said.
2. A PERFECT RESPONSE
Following a 6-3 drubbing at the hands of the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, Cooper challenged his team, saying there was an air of "entitlement" running through the locker room, as if the team had already locked up a playoff spot at the season's midpoint. The Lightning head coach wasn't happy about some bad habits that had crept into his team's play of late, and called on the team's leaders to right the ship before those habits derailed what had been previously a relatively adversity-free start to the season.
Boy did the Lightning hear their coach's words.
Tampa Bay opened the game in Detroit with purpose and fire and a willingness to do all the little things necessary to win. They crashed the goal looking for rebounds. They played sound defensively, allowing Louis Domingue, making his Lightning debut since being recalled from AHL Syracuse on December 31, to get his feet into the game and eventually flourish. He finished with 34 saves on 36 Detroit shots, including a couple game-changing saves that kept the Lightning in the lead.
"I think he was calm back there," Cooper said of Domingue's debut. "It was good to see."
Tampa Bay netted two goals in the first period, scoring for the first time on the road trip in the opening period. Detroit turned up the physicality to try to get back in the game in the second, but the Lightning pushed back. Brayden Point got in a fight with Dylan Larkin after Larkin boarded Ondrej Palat. Victor Hedman and Justin Abdelkader exchanged pleasantries after Abdelkader got boarded by Nikita Kucherov. And Yanni Gourde manhandled Tomas Tatar in a second-period fight to further spur the Bolts on.
Gourde would end up registering the Lightning's second Gordie Howe hat trick of the season (Point had the other) after netting two goals and adding an assist, matching a career high for points in a game.

After Abdelkader cut the Lightning lead to 3-2 early in the third, the Bolts dug their heels in, kept the Red Wings off the board the rest of the way and added a couple late insurance markers on Kucherov's 27th goal of the season and Gourde's second of the game.
"We challenged these guys and they continue to answer the bell," a smiling Cooper said when asked what he thought of his team's response. "This was an easy one to mail in: five-game road trip, how many days we've been on the road, back-to-back, through customs and to have the game that we did, especially the way the game went. I don't think we had a power play tonight, had to kill off two 5-on-3s, pretty gutty effort from the guys."
3. UNSUNG HERO? THE PENALTY KILL
For the first time this season, Tampa Bay didn't have a power play in its game against Detroit.
The Red Wings, however, certainly had plenty of power-play opportunities and chances to draw level with the Bolts on the man-advantage.
The Lightning penalty kill put up a perfect 4-for-4 performance, however, killing some key penalties at critical moments, including two separate 5-on-3s.
Detroit went on its first 5-on-3 late in the first period trailing 2-0. The Red Wings had 53 seconds with a two-man advantage, but Domingue made a heck of a save to thwart one Grade-A chance and Ryan Callahan slid to the ice to block another and eliminate a golden opportunity for the Red Wings to get on the board.
In the second period with the Lightning clinging to a 2-1 lead and Detroit holding all the momentum, the Red Wings got another 5-on-3, this one lasting 38 seconds.
Again, the Tampa Bay penalty killers executed brilliantly to keep the Red Wings from leveling the score.
Quietly, the Lightning penalty kill went a perfect 15-for-15 on the road trip.
Looking for a low-key reason why the Lightning walked out of Little Caesars Arena with their 30th win of the season?
Look no further than the penalty killers.
"Pretty gutty effort from the guys," Cooper said.