Krenn: Three Things we learned from a thrilling Game 3 victory

Don't count them out yet.
The Tampa Bay Lightning rallied from a two-goal deficit and scored three straight goals on Sunday afternoon for a huge 3-2 win over the New York Rangers. The Bolts now trail 2-1 in the series with a chance to get things evened up at two apiece in a critical Game 4 on Tuesday.

After the Rangers scored two power-play goals in the second period, the Lightning needed a response and they got one from Nikita Kucherov, who would finish the night with three points to pace Tampa Bay.
Taking a pass from Victor Hedman, Kucherov ripped a one-timer from the circle that got through the five hole of Igor Shesterkin to get the Bolts back within one goal.
The Lightning went into the second intermission trailing by one and while a loss wouldn't have ended their season, the third period felt just as important as it did in Game 6 vs. Toronto in the First Round.
It was clear that the Bolts felt that urgency as well. Just 1:22 into the period, Corey Perry sent a pass across the New York zone before Steven Stamkos skated downhill and blasted a bar-down one-timer past Shesterkin to tie the game at two. It was a goal that Tampa Bay fans have seen time and time again, with Stamkos getting every bit of his shot to even the score.
The Lightning were rolling from that point on. It was a dominant third period for Tampa Bay, who outshot New York by a count of 19-6 in the final frame with the Lightning attempting 32 shots and the Rangers attempting 11. The Bolts finished the game with a 51-30 shot advantage.
As it looked like the game may have been going to overtime, it was one of the all-time clutch performers in Lightning franchise history who sent Tampa Bay fans home happy. With less than a minute to play, the Bolts were still pushing the pace and throwing pucks at Shesterkin.
After Erik Cernak collected a bouncing puck at the blue line, he sent a pass across the line to Hedman. Moving up the boards, Hedman fired a pass over to Kucherov, who ever so subtly slid the puck on his backhand to Ondrej Palat, who immediately fired a one-timer on net that got past Shesterkin with 41.6 seconds left in regulation.
AMALIE Arena was buzzing and the Lightning shut down New York in the final moments to cap off the 3-2 victory. After a massive effort from the Bolts on Sunday afternoon, let's take a look at three things that carried them to a big Game 3 win.

1. GOING BACK TO PALLY
"Mr. Reliable."
"A star."
"One of the all-time greats to put on that jersey."
These are a few of the ways that Ondrej Palat's teammates have described him during this postseason.
Throughout the Lightning's playoff runs over the past decade, Palat has performed consistently while showing up in some of the biggest moments.
In the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Bolts won the second Stanley Cup in franchise history, Palat had the fourth-most points on the team. He scored three game-winning goals in that year's postseason and went on to add two game-winners in the playoffs last year.
Palat's clutch goal tonight was the 10th game-winner of his playoff career, passing Tyler Johnson for the most game-winning goals in Lightning playoff history.
"Well, those guys are best buds, so I'm sure a text message or two will go between those guys," said Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper. "I can't say enough about both of them and what they've meant to our organization, both Tyler and Palat.
"Palat, we've seen this for years. He is a quiet kid. He doesn't say anything. All he does is give you everything he has on every shift."
When Palat is on the ice, he's working. He's been a consistent part of this Tampa Bay core that is trying to capture a third-straight Stanley Cup. It doesn't matter what game it is or where he's at in the lineup, you know you're going to get 100% from Palat.
"He's played up and down the lineup, but he's got that ability to play that blue collar game with white collar players and that's a great trait to have. He's been doing it in his career and he's usually the third guy talked about on the lines he plays on, but he comes through with the statistics you just banged out now.
"It's much deserved and all his linemates would say the same thing."
While Palat may not get enough recognition on the national level, everyone in the locker room knows how big of a player he is for his team.
"I'll call him a star in my eyes," said Pat Maroon on Sunday. "He's a big-time player who steps up in big-time moments and that's what stars do."
A lot of Palat's career in Tampa Bay has been played on a line with Stamkos, who had nothing but good things to say about one of the biggest pieces of the Lightning's success over his 10 years with the team.
"Obviously that's a stat of a player that elevates his game at the time the team needs them the most," said Stamkos when asked about Palat's 10th career game-winning goal in the playoffs. "For the guys that know Pally and have been here as long as I have, it's not surprising to us to see him come up clutch in those moments.
"Huge, huge moment for us, for this series, for the momentum going into game two [at home].
"Pally's a guy that no matter what situation, no matter what stage, he's Mr. Reliable. It was obviously a huge goal for us tonight and just nice to be part of it."
Palat has scored 43 career playoff goals, the second-most in Tampa Bay franchise history. His 83 playoff points and 40 assists both rank fourth. His plus-29 playoff rating is tied with Kucherov for the best in franchise history. He's recorded the seventh-most regular season points in Lightning history.
Victor Hedman may have said it best.
"He's probably one of the all-time greats to put on that jersey."

2. NO QUIT
Going into the third period down by one while trailing 2-0 in the series, the Lightning showed no signs of giving up. The majority of the final frame was spent in the New York zone, with Tampa Bay putting relentless pressure on Shesterkin.
"It wasn't an ideal situation, but there's no quit in our group," said Stamkos. "We were in that position against Toronto in Round One going into the third period.
"I mean, we were down 2-0 in the series. It's pretty much all on the line here in the third."
The Lightning looked a lot more like themselves in Game 3, defending well and playing strong at five-on-five. Both of New York's goals came on the power play and Tampa Bay did a great job sustaining zone time in the Rangers end throughout the game.
"They got a couple of power play goals, but I think the five-on-five game was in our favor tonight," Stamkos said. "That's what we want and a much better response and in that area, for sure.
"It was just more characteristic of our game. A lot of pucks on net. A lot of O-zone time. Sustained pressure. A huge penalty kill at the end.
"Vasy [was] making some great timely saves and [it was] just a good team effort tonight."
That was the game Lightning fans have been waiting to see after Games 1 and 2 where the Bolts looked a little uncharacteristic. Tampa Bay kept it simple tonight. They got pucks behind the Rangers defensemen and forechecked hard. They kept their gaps tight and eliminated a lot of cross-ice passes in their own end. They put traffic in front of Shesterkin and got more pucks on net.
"We've been in spots like this," said Cooper. "The big thing for us was we felt we had a recipe. We just had to stay with it.
"I think there were times in this series that we've tried to manufacture things that weren't there that put us on our heels, gave up opportunities. Whether it was a break, whatever you want to say, we just we weren't in sync.
"Our five-on-five game, I liked, and so we just needed to stick with that and stay out of the box is what we had to do and we would be fine.
"I think maybe years past, three or four years ago, maybe panic would have set in at some point. Definitely not with this group."
By the end of the night, 16 of the Lightning's 18 skaters recorded a shot on goal. Fifteen of 18 skaters had a hit.
It was a great all-around effort from Tampa Bay in their first win of the series. Now, they have to carry that into Game 4.

3. THREE FOR KUCH
When the Lightning needed their biggest players to step up, they did. Hedman and Stamkos each had two points, but it was Kucherov who had a share of all three goals with one goal and two helpers.
It was the 20th three-point night of Kucherov's playoff career, becoming just the sixth player in NHL history to hit that mark. He joins Wayne Gretzky (59x), Mark Messier (30x), Jari Kurri (28x), Denis Savard (21x) and Jaromir Jagr (20x) as the only players to do so.
"I think if you look at the first couple shifts to the game, you knew Kuch was on his game," said Stamkos. "It was a matter of when he was going to get on the scoresheet. I mean, a couple of unfortunate high sticking penalties, but other than that, Kuch, I thought, was our most dynamic player out there."
It was Kucherov's power-play goal that sparked Tampa Bay's comeback. After he lit the lamp, the Bolts really started to take off.
"He was physical early on," said Stamkos. "He was getting shots on net. He was making plays. That was a huge power play for us."
Kucherov is a special talent and undoubtedly one of the best players to ever put on a Lightning jersey. On Sunday, he became the first player in franchise history to score 50 career playoff goals. No player in franchise history has more playoff assists (97) or playoff points (147). Hedman is closest in playoff points overall with 101, which is the 13th-most playoff points by a defenseman in NHL history.
A Tampa Bay legend at just 28 years old, it's been Kucherov that has been a consistent game-breaker for the Lightning over the years.
"He's won a Hart Trophy," said Cooper. "He's been an electrifying player. He's got two Stanley Cup rings.
"I think when teams go that far, each team has those type of players on them and that's what Kuch is. He's a unique, special talent.
"When you're the last team standing, there's a player on each team, or maybe two, that have the game breaker and he's one of them for us."
Kucherov has five points over his last two contests with two goals and three assists. He has recorded at least one point in nine of the Lightning's 14 playoff games this year. Overall, he's posted 20 points in 14 playoff games this postseason, averaging over a point per game in the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
"You look at the end of the game and he's contributed to every single goal and made some great plays on all of them," Stamkos said. "It was certainly nice to see Kuch on his game, and there's not many games where he's not, but if he doesn't feel like it's up to his standards, the next game is usually a really good one and tonight was another example of that."