Krenn: Three Things we learned from leveling the series in Toronto

That felt much more like Lightning hockey.
The Tampa Bay Lightning evened their first-round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night with a big 5-3 road win at Scotiabank Arena.
The Lightning improved to 16-0 in games following a loss over the last three postseasons.
The big guns led the way for the Bolts on Wednesday night with Victor Hedman recording four points (1G, 3A), Nikita Kucherov picking up three points (1G, 2A), and Andrei Vasilevskiy making 31 saves, including some highlight-reel stops along the way.

"We wanted to have a better night," said Lightning forward Brayden Point. "We've got a good leadership group that gets us ready for games and bounce-back games. I think we were just a little more ready tonight."
Hedman opened the scoring for Tampa Bay at the 19:57 mark of the first period to gain the 1-0 lead with mere seconds left in the opening frame.
The Lightning kept going and never looked back after that.
Just 2:21 into the second period, Hedman fed Corey Perry with a beautiful pass through the neutral zone before Perry beat Jack Campbell on a breakaway.
Toronto answered with a goal from Michael Bunting at the 7:47 mark of the second period to make it 2-1, but the Bolts didn't blink. Just 2:20 after the Bunting goal, Kucherov scored a beauty for his first of the postseason, roofing a wrist shot top shelf over Campbell to put Tampa Bay back up by two.
The Lightning opened the third period with Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul each earning their first career NHL playoff points. After a nice defensive play by Paul in the Tampa Bay zone, Kucherov gained control of the puck and skated through the neutral zone. After gaining the Toronto line, Kucherov fed Paul, who then dished the puck over to Hagel, who was initially stopped by Campbell, but was right there to pick up his own rebound and make it a 4-1 game.
Point ended up scoring his first goal of the playoffs just 4:05 later with a shot from the low slot on the power play to give the Lightning a 5-1 lead.
Toronto was able to get two back in the third period, but their comeback bid was denied as time expired and the Bolts walked away with a 5-3 victory.
The Lightning will return home to Tampa on Thursday morning and begin preparing for Game Three, set to be played at AMALIE Arena at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday night.
But before that, here's three things that we learned from a big Game Two win over the Maple Leafs.

1. HISTORY WITH HEDDY
Wednesday's game wasn't technically a "must-win" game, but it sure felt really important. Going down two games to zero in a playoff series against a high-flying team like Toronto would not have been ideal for the Bolts.
The Lightning needed a much better performance than they had in Monday's Game One loss. Someone had to drag them into that fight. Victor Hedman was one of the guys to do that.
Hedman recorded the first four-point game of his playoff career with a goal and three helpers.
It was the seventh career game with three or more points for the big Swede, who became just the 10th defenseman in NHL history to record as many such outings, with Paul Coffey (19) and Denis Potvin (19) pacing the position.
With his fourth point, Hedman tied Bobby Orr and Red Kelly for the 16th-most career playoff points by an NHL defenseman with 92.
It was Hedman who broke the ice with the game-opening goal late in the first period before going on to record three assists. His first assist of the game, the pass through the neutral zone to Perry, was a thing of beauty.
"It's going back to your best players being your best players," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. "He quarterbacks that power play back there.
"But, as I was talking about with that second goal, how about that pass he makes to Perry?
"You need that out of your guy, especially when he's playing north of 25 minutes a night. He defended. He penalty killed. He did everything in every situation."
Hedman became the first defenseman in Lightning franchise history to record four points in a single playoff game on Wednesday night with the goal and three assists.
His goal was the 20th playoff tally of his career, making him the ninth player in Tampa Bay franchise history to score 20 postseason goals. He joined Kris Letang and Brent Burns as the only active defensemen to hit that mark. He remains the leading playoff point getter amongst all active NHL defensemen.
"He's solid," Perry said. "He leads by example and he's done that all season.
"When we've needed somebody to step up, it's been our big boys that have done it and they proved that tonight."
Hedman just continues to somehow get better and better every single year. From his elite offensive talents to his incredible defensive prowess, there will come a day when number 77 is hanging from the rafters at AMALIE Arena.
When asked about Hedman's assist, Perry shared a laugh with the big defenseman, who was sitting right beside him for their postgame media availability.
"It was a good pass," Perry chuckled. "The vision - I cut in front of him inside our zone and I think they were changing, and I just kept going. He made a great seam pass and I was in all alone."
Hedman continues to tear through Lightning franchise records and all-time NHL defensemen records as well.
With performances like tonight, it's easy to see why he is a regular finalist for the Norris Trophy year after year.

2. TWO IN A ROW
The Lightning take pride in not losing two playoff games back-to-back. What goes into that process? There must be a secret recipe for a team that hasn't dropped two consecutive games in over two playoff years.
"We take it personal," Hedman said. "That's the bottom line.
"If you lose two in a row in the playoffs, it's never good since it's first to four."
Even Cooper has been impressed at how his group has responded to a playoff loss.
"What does it take to bounce back like that," Cooper asked. "It takes character. You have to have that in your room.
"They're aware of situations. You've got to tip your hat to those guys. To lose a playoff game, and then the next night, go in and say, 'We're not losing this one.'
"You've got a really good chance of winning the Stanley Cup if you can do that, not lose two in a row."
The Lightning's streak of not losing two playoff games in a row started with a win in an opening round-robin game in the 2020 Playoffs. It's the longest-such streak in NHL playoff history, with the Bolts owning a +31 goal differential over those 16 wins.
"That's what you have to do," Cooper explained. "You have to make it personal. You have to create an anger inside.
"Whether your want is to win or your want is not to lose, either one. That was the mindset we had going into tonight."
It's been an incredible run for the Lightning in the postseason following a loss. If you don't ever lose two games in a row during the playoffs, you're going to find yourself in a great position when it's all said and done.

3. TRUST IN VASY
While you can look up and see that Toronto scored three goals, you had to watch the game to understand how excellent Vasilevskiy was between the pipes on Wednesday night.
"When they're (Hedman and Vasilevskiy) going, our team's a lot better," Point explained. "Obviously, Heddy tonight had a big night. And then Vasy again, making a lot of huge saves for us.
"He's done that in the past and he's done it again here tonight. It was good to see."
With the score at 1-0, Toronto had a great opportunity in front of Tampa Bay's net just over a minute into the period. With one side of the net seemingly wide open, Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren collected the puck in the slot and fired a wrister towards the top corner, but was absolutely robbed by the glove of Vasilevskiy. Shortly thereafter, Perry gave the Lightning the 2-0 lead.
"We've got the best goalie to start," Hedman said. "Some big time saves today when we needed it."
Cooper saw the impact Vasilevskiy's play had on the game as well.
"We needed tonight," Cooper said. "They stepped up and it started with our goaltender.
"He was outstanding and we fed off those two penalty kills at the start of the game. It just gave us energy and we took off from there."
Listening to Cooper talk before Game Two was pretty interesting, especially following the performance Vasilevskiy put on in Wednesday's win.
On the morning of Game Two, Cooper almost seemed to know with 100% certainty that Vasilevskiy was going to have a big night in the crease.
"It's not guaranteeing future success tonight, but the goalie finds a way to get himself dialed in in these situations, not that he doesn't in other scenarios, but give him 60 minutes of a game, especially if you put a few by him.
"He's a pretty proud guy.
"When he's got his focus in like he has in these scenarios, he's pretty tough to beat."
Cooper wasn't the only one who thought Vasilevskiy was going to have a big game. Ross Colton spoke to the media prior to Game Two as well and echoed Cooper's thoughts.
I would say, for the most part, goaltenders in the NHL typically aren't the most vocal leaders. On top of that, the Lightning have a lot of leaders in their locker room. Monday's loss was tough on everyone involved on the Tampa Bay side, but Vasilevskiy may have been the least phased.
"He's a gamer," Colton said. "He's going to come ready to play.
"Even after last game he kind of just said, 'Hey, it's okay. It's a long series.' You don't usually hear that from a guy like him. He usually keeps to himself, so he'll shrug that off."
Lightning forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, another veteran in the Tampa Bay locker room, was also impressed with the 'Big Cat's' demeanor following the loss on Monday.
"To be honest, I was more impressed about his way to be in the locker room after the game," said Bellemare. "He wasn't bothered. Obviously, you don't want to lose the game, but at the end of the day you understand that it's playoffs.
"He (Vasilevskiy) just said to make sure we understand what happened and focus on the next one coming up."
Monday was a tough loss. The Lightning needed a response from their big-time players. Hedman showed up. Kucherov showed up.
In between the pipes, Vasilevskiy showed up in a big way. Tampa Bay will need him to continue that strong play throughout the postseason if they want to be successful in their goal of lifting the Stanley Cup for the third-straight year.