The Backcheck: A milestone night in Philadelphia

Some wins stick out more than others.
The Tampa Bay Lightning's 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night will forever be remembered as one of those wins.
With the secondary assist on a goal by Nick Paul, Steven Stamkos became the first player in Lightning franchise history to record 1,000 points with the club.
"I don't think I've ever celebrated a second assist more in my career, to be honest," said Stamkos with a laugh. "It was just really special."

He's the eighth active NHLer to hit the 1,000-point mark and one of four to do it in less than 1,000 games. The 43rd-fastest player in NHL history to reach the milestone in terms of games played, Stamkos is the 39th player this century to hit 1,000 points.
"It's longevity," said Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper. "You've got to play a lot of games to get that.
"That kid's got some more milestones to come this year. He's deserved it. I've been very fortunate to have a front-row seat to probably three quarters of those.
"It's a very proud moment for you as a coach to be a part of that and you know how proud he feels. That's quite a moment for him."

As for the game as a whole, the Bolts were dominant in the third and final game of a three-game road trip, particularly in the second period.
During the middle frame, the Lightning outshot the Flyers 17-2, equaling the fewest number of shots against Tampa Bay has allowed in a period all season. At 5-on-5, the Bolts generated 11 high-danger scoring chances in the second period while Philly had zero.
"We had a heck of a second period against Boston the other night too," said Cooper. "We didn't have the zone time we did tonight, but we were on it."
Coming into the second period, the Lightning already had the 1-0 lead after Paul scored a power-play goal by finishing off a nice pass from Corey Perry with Alex Killorn picking up the secondary helper. But Tampa Bay really took control of the game in the middle frame.
At the 7:55 mark of the second, Stamkos sent a pass around the offensive zone boards to Ian Cole, who made a nice, heads-up play to fire the puck to the back door where Paul was waiting to bury his second goal of the night and 11th of the season.
"I'm like, 'Oh my God, that's the 1000th right there,'" said Paul. "When I grabbed the puck, I looked for him and all the guys are coming over. What a memory that is and what an amazing player he is. To get that accomplishment is unbelievable.
"He's buzzing out there. He looks like he can go another 10 years. The sky's the limit for Stammer and we're just super happy."
For Paul, Thursday marked his second two-goal game of the season and third multi-point game in the last four contests. He has recorded seven points over his last five games with five goals and two helpers. Since November 13, only two NHL players have scored more goals than Paul's seven.
With 18 points (7G, 11A) this season, Paul ranks second in goals and sixth in points among all Lightning skaters.
After taking the 2-0 lead, it looked like the Bolts were heading to the second intermission comfortably up by two, but after Corey Perry made a nice play to draw a penalty on a breakaway and still get a shot on goal, Ross Colton quickly jumped on the rebound and made it a 3-0 game with 2.7 seconds left in the second period.
"I'm glad we scored that third one late," said Cooper. "To get that third one was a little bit of a burst of the bubble. It helped us to be rewarded for that kind of period to get one late.
"Those are great building blocks for us. You get to see a little bit of the recipe, watch a little video and hopefully we can replicate that on Saturday against the Leafs."

On a night where it felt like everything was going right for Tampa Bay, the fourth goal essentially put the nail in the coffin for the Flyers. Following a dump-in from Cole at the red line, the puck ricocheted off the back boards, deflected off the back of Carter Hart's pad and into the back of the net. Erik Cernak picked up the primary assist and Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his first point of the year with the secondary helper.
Travis Konecny got the Flyers on the board with 8:37 remaining in the third to spoil the shutout for Vasilevskiy, who still collected his ninth win of the season with 21 saves.
But the star of the entire night was Stamkos, who not only recorded his 1,000th point, but extended his point streak to nine games, the eighth-longest point streak in the NHL this season. Since his streak started, only two players in the NHL have recorded more points than Stamkos, who has posted 15 points with six goals and nine assists.
In 2016, Stamkos had the opportunity to sign with any team in the NHL and test free agency. He decided to stay with Tampa Bay and has won two Stanley Cups since. Now, he's the first player in franchise history to record 1,000 points with the club.
Stamkos has helped set a new standard for what it means to be a member of the Lightning and his teammates have followed him. From here, the next test for the captain and the rest of the Bolts will come on Saturday night at AMALIE Arena against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a rematch of Round One of last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET.