If last night’s 4-2 victory for the Tampa Bay Lightning were a movie, it would embody the rise-then-fall-then-rise storyline, also known as the Cinderella narrative. (Kurt Vonnegut wrote a master’s thesis on this many years ago.) There is the arrival of the fairy godmother that leads all the way to the crescendo at the ball before midnight strikes and everything falls apart, although a state of well-being is restored with the glass-slipper fitting.

For the Lightning, the arc was similar: a leap of fortune in the first period as Tampa Bay jumped out to a three-goal advantage; a hapless thirty-plus minutes where the Lightning were outshot by a 3:1 margin; and then a propitious turn for a happy ending as Nikita Kucherov struck on a breakaway, once again tormenting goaltender Braden Holtby. Just like in a children’s fable, there is meaning to be extracted from the tale.

Brayden Point nearly collected a hat trick in this game, and there is little reason to believe he will be less effective in the playoffs. His speed and positioning make him a nearly unstoppable threat, and his second goal was the fullest manifestation of that duality. On a neutral-zone regroup, Point beat the Capitals’ No. 1 defenseman, John Carlson, one-on-one, and Point started the sequence from a standstill.

Point’s acceleration to get to the inside lane and transport the puck to the low slot, while exhibiting the awareness to fend off Carlson as Point descended on Holtby, was an extraordinary display of skill. Point’s speed off the entry is evident to anyone who has faced the Lightning, but his ability to wiggle his way into scoring areas and stay on top of the puck even when he is not directly in puck pursuit, makes him a constant threat to score. (The first goal was an example as he appeared on the weak side at the right time for the Ryan Callahan pass off the Jay Beagle turnover.)

Even though Point’s second goal was deposited on a bad Washington line change it did not take away from the effort; if the forward is a threat to beat a defenseman one-on-one, the gap for that forward gets a little looser the next time he approaches. Point is very comfortable feigning the outside lane before steering toward the middle slot, and that is going to become the preferred route for defending him if he continues to exploit defensemen vis-à-vis. And that in itself is an extraordinary statement: Point is so fast and slippery that defenses will want to guide him toward shooting from the middle slot!

If Point’s second goal suggests larger, macro consequences for the regular and post seasons, Chris Kunitz’s goal was aberrational. There was engagement by Andrej Sustr and Braydon Coburn, dogged puck retreat, and while the sustained cycle was commendable, it is hard to imagine the Lightning replicating that kind of efficacy in future contests. The essence of “territorial advantage” is that, if you spend enough time in the offensive zone, good things, like a Kunitz tip-in goal, will occur.

It is common knowledge that a role player like Kunitz, especially when surrounded by other bottom-six players, is less likely to score than a star player; however, what made the goal an outlier was that too much was being fueled by the Lightning’s worst defensemen and too much of the sequence occurred on the perimeter. Coburn had two successful pinches before the goal was scored. Every Coburn pinch has potential for a catastrophic odd-man rush. Vladislav Namestikov did have a crucial retrieval on the eventual goal, so that should not be lost. Still, the puck spent almost the entire time outside the home-plate area before a knuckling Sustr shot found an opportunistic stick.

The Lightning were outshot badly last night, and the Corsi count for the third period is ugly. But the Lightning were the faster team by a noticeable margin in the first period. They were winning races to the puck and intercepting passes. Once the lead ballooned to three, the foot left the pedal. It took a Kucherov leak out, which led to the clinching marker, for the collective exhale from Tampa Bay.

The Lightning had a few days off before their game in D.C., but the difference between the first and second period demonstrates they have different gears they can activate. The key in situations like this is disentangling lessons from white noise.

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