Krenn: Three Things we learned from dropping Game 3

It was too little, too late for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night. After falling behind 3-0, the Bolts pushed hard for a comeback and got the score to 3-2, but couldn't manage to tie the game before allowing two empty-net goals and falling to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-3.
The Bolts now trail 2-1 in the series ahead of Game 4 on Sunday night at AMALIE Arena.

We've talked a lot throughout this series about special teams and the high-end talent that each team possesses on the penalty kill. After Tampa Bay was whistled for delay of game just 2:56 into the first period, Morgan Rielly scored on the power play for Toronto to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead.
The Lightning gave up a shorthanded goal in each of the first two games of the series and the second goal of the game felt similar.
After the Bolts couldn't convert on their first power play of the game, Ilya Lyubushkin exited the box for Toronto just as his team gained possession.
Lyubushkin got the puck and darted through the neutral zone as Toronto found themselves on a three-on-one before Colin Blackwell scored to make it 2-0 with 10:16 left in the first period.
Nearly six minutes into the second period, Toronto would capitalize again. Following a Tampa Bay turnover at the Maple Leafs blue line, David Kampf skated into the Lightning zone and fired a wrist shot that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy on the stick side and put Toronto up by three in what felt like a nightmare start for the Bolts.
About five minutes later, the Lightning found themselves on the power play after Justin Holl was whistled for holding. After Mikhail Sergachev collected the puck in the high slot, he made a nice pass to his right when Ross Colton ripped a heavy, perfectly placed one-timer past Jack Campbell to pull Tampa Bay within two.
From that point on, the Lightning pushed hard. Ondrej Palat got the Bolts within two 5:43 into the final period with a nice wrist shot to the short side of Campbell, beating him over the blocker. Just like that, Tampa Bay was trailing by just one goal with 14:17 remaining.
The Bolts outshot the Leafs 14-7 in the third period and nearly scored the game-tying goal on several occasions, including a heavy drive to the net by Nick Paul and a blistering one-timer from Steven Stamkos.
But the Lightning couldn't find a way to get a third goal past Campbell and eventually allowed the two empty-net goals to conclude the contest and put Tampa Bay in a 2-1 hole in the series.
It was a great effort from Tampa Bay in the final 30 minutes of the game, but, once again, so much of the game was spent on special teams. The Lightning gave the dangerous Toronto power play five different opportunities on Friday night, two of which came on delay of game penalties for sending the puck over the glass.
It felt like the Bolts just didn't have that switch flipped to start the game like they did following the Game 1 loss. There is plenty to build on from the second half of the game, but if the Lightning want to win this series, they'll have to take at least one more game on the road.
Here's what we learned from Friday's loss to Toronto.

1. MORE DISCIPLINE
It's been discussed ad nauseum, but the Lightning need to stay out of the penalty box if they want to win this series.
"Fifteen penalties in eight periods of hockey," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. "It's not a winning formula."
The Bolts are playing with fire letting the Maple Leafs get so many chances on the power play. Toronto has a player in Auston Matthews that became the first skater to score 60 goals in a season since Steven Stamkos did it a decade ago. On the other half wall, they have Mitch Marner, who put up 97 points during the regular season.
Toronto had the top power play in the NHL during the regular season. They're just too dangerous to hand chance after chance.
The Leafs may have only managed a one-for-five performance on the power play, but four of Tampa Bay's five penalties came within the first 22 minutes of the hockey game. And this wasn't just a regular season game in the middle of the year.
This was the first home playoff game of the postseason for the Bolts. AMALIE Arena was buzzing right off the hop. It was loud in that building and it was filled with chants of "Let's go Lightning," from the first second the puck hit the ice.
Being on the kill that much and, of course, giving up the first goal of the game less than five minutes into the contest is a huge letdown for the players and the fans alike.
I have to give a lot of credit to the fans who showed up tonight. Despite the goal, the penalties, and getting outshot in the first period, they kept the energy high throughout the first 20 minutes and, really, throughout the majority of the game.
But while the crowd is a big advantage at home, what was more important was just how long the Lightning had to play with one less skater. There has been far too much time spent shorthanded this series for Tampa Bay. They need to do everything they can to stay disciplined and stay out of the box.
What's frightening is the fact that it has been a point of emphasis the entire series and it continues to be an issue.
"They did force us to chase it, but it's just hard to chase it when you're in the penalty box the whole time," said Cooper. "It drains you.
"You don't take any penalties, like we did in the third, and you have a pretty good period. The parade to the penalty box, it's getting exhausting."
The coaches know it.
The players know it.
The fans know it.
There must be a reduction in penalties and an increase in discipline over the second half of this series.
"We were in the box a lot," said Stamkos. "That kills the flow of the game. It kills the momentum.
"Guys are grinding, working extremely hard there. You can't take five penalties in the first half of the game.
"It's taxing. Give our penalty killers a ton of credit. Give our goaltender a ton of credit. We fought back hard, but tough to go in a three-zip hole and expect to come back come playoff time."

2. ALIVE AT FIVE-ON-FIVE
Similar to the first point of staying out of the box, the Lightning need to take advantage of five-on-five play.
During this series, when play has been five-on-five (which it hasn't been very often), the Bolts have looked great. Tampa Bay didn't take a single penalty in the third period and it showed with a 14-7 shot differential.
"We were playing with a little desperation down by a couple goals," said Colton. "But, like I said before, it can't come to that. We've got to play with desperation from the puck drop, especially now that we're down.
"We've got to finish checks. We've got to play faster and get pucks behind their D.
"When it's five-on-five, we're playing our game. We're all over them. I think that's kind of just where we've got to start."
If it hasn't been obvious enough in his comments throughout the series, it should be now. Cooper wants his team playing at five-on-five. They have the talent, speed, size, character, and so many more positive attributes up and down the lineup.
When half of the game is spent on special teams, some guys aren't playing. Other guys can't find a rhythm. Some guys are forced into playing more, but in exhausting circumstances with a limited chance at generating offense.
"Almost half of the first two periods was special teams and it's been like that a ton," Cooper explained. "It's hard to comment on the five-on-five. I mean, it's short sample sizes.
"But in saying that, in the limited time we've had, we've liked what we've seen. But I think special teams has been a factor in all three games. Hence, the two-one lead."
There hasn't been a huge sample size, but the Lightning have shown some really bright spots at five-on-five, particularly in tonight's third period. Whether the Bolts are on the power play or if the game is five-on-five, they're better off than continuing the parade to the penalty box.
"It's a long series," said Colton. "If we keep playing like the way that we finished that game, honestly, I think we could have won that game in regulation if we got some bounces there.
"Credit to the goalie, he made some nice saves. We've got to do a better job in front of Vasy and stay out of the box because, five-on-five, I think we're playing a good game."

3. REMEMBER THE POSITIVES
The playoffs are all about taking things day-by-day. You can't get too high. You can't get too low.
There are so many swings of emotion in the postseason. A loss can feel like everything is falling apart. A win can feel like you can't be beaten.
Both of those are invalid.
While the Lightning need to forget about the result of this game and move onto Game 4, they also need to remember everything that happened on Friday night. It's important to remember what went wrong, so hopefully those things don't happen again in the future.
On top of that, it's vital to remember all of the good things that happened, that way those things can hopefully be replicated in the future.
Take Friday night for example. The Bolts need to take the formula from the third period and use that moving forward throughout the series. Learn from the positives.
"I think five-on-five, we found a recipe there in the second half of that game," said Stamkos. "We've got to stick with it.
"Great effort. I loved the response by our group, but we've got to dig deeper here and find a way.
"It starts with us as leaders."
Colton may only be in his second year in the league, but he was part of the Stanley Cup championship team last season. While he may not be a veteran leader either, he knows what this team needs to do to maintain the positives, turn the page, and move onto the next game.
"[In the third,] we were playing fast," said Colton. "We were all over them. We got pucks deep. We didn't give their D a chance to break out.
"It probably felt like we had seven guys on the ice, I think, at times.
"When we're playing the right way and structured, we've got a great team. We believe in that locker room that we're fine. I don't think there's an ounce of doubt in there.
"We're fine. We're going to come to the rink tomorrow. We'll look at some video, prepare, and I guarantee we'll be ready to go on Sunday."
This team knows how to recover after a loss. They haven't lost consecutive playoff games in over two seasons, but they still need to draw from their experience after each and every postseason contest. There's always more to learn and room to grow.
While it's important to remember what worked for the Lightning tonight, there is also the cold-hard truth. This team is trailing in the series. Sure, the positives have to be remembered and utilized going forward, but in Cooper's mind, that's it.
Those positives should be utilized, but there shouldn't be any kind of happiness in regards to the third period.
At the end of the day, Tampa Bay lost that hockey game and are two losses away from the end of their season.
"Well, it was clear momentum had shifted," said Cooper. "Then we got the power play, we had some looks, and they didn't go in. Give their goalie credit. He made the saves when they had to, but you're hoping it doesn't come down to that.
"We pushed, but sitting up here now, we're still down two-one. We can sit here and pat ourselves on the back all night long and say, 'Hey, great job pushing at the end!'
"Still, you're down two-one, so we've just got to take the positives out of this and move on to Game Four."
Tampa Bay will practice on Saturday in preparation for Game 4 at AMALIE Arena on Sunday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET as the Bolts look to even the series at two apiece before heading back to Toronto for Game 5 on Tuesday.