TAMPA, Fla. -- Ondrej Palat saw his linemate head up ice at the end of shift, one-on-two, and figured like any normal human being in this league he’d dump and peel for the line change.

"Exactly, it’s the playoffs and that’s what we’re supposed to do," Palat said. "But Kuch, he just makes some plays he’s so skilled."

Nikita Kucherov, the 21-year-old Moscow native otherwise known as Patrick Kane light, skated right up to New York Rangers blueliners Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi, backing them up slightly inside the blueline, and used his incredibly quick release to beat a stunned Henrik Lundqvist stick side 3 minutes 33 seconds into overtime.

"I just saw the D back up a little bit, they gave me space, and I just tried to shoot it," Kucherov said. "Any shot in overtime is a good shot. I’m glad I scored."

So was a soldout crowd at Amalie Arena, as the Tampa Bay Lightning prevailed 6-5 Wednesday night to take a 2-1 series lead in the Prince of Wales, er, Eastern Conference finals.

Yessir, this had a 1980s feel to it. Goals galore, mistakes, end-to-end chances, and coaches with lemon faces.

"I like it," said Palat, author of two goals on the night. "I think it's good hockey for fans. It's up and down, it's just fun to play."

The Triplets scored four of Tampa Bay’s six goals on the night, Tyler Johnson padding his playoff lead with his 12th goal, and the unit combining for 25 goals in the playoffs. Crazy.

"Well, they've impressed me for a long time and now they're impressing the world," Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. "It's fun to watch."

The thing about it, though -- and this is the really bad news for the Rangers -- is that it’s not just the Triplets.

The Lightning are no longer a one-line team as they’ve been for most of the opening two rounds. The other top-six unit with Steven Stamkos, Valtteri Filppula and Alex Killorn was dynamite Wednesday night, something that has gradually been happening ever since Cooper thought to put them together in Game 5 of the second round versus the Montreal Canadiens.

"I think we’ve found some chemistry for sure," said Killorn, who scored his sixth goal of the postseason. "We all know our role and what we bring to that line. We’ve been doing a good job of that.

"Stamkos has been shooting the puck, which is great, I like to get the puck in the corners for those guys, and Filppula opens up the ice when he gets it."

Tampa Bay also got some impactful shifts Wednesday night from checkers such as Brenden Morrow, Brian Boyle and J.T. Brown. They had some wonderfully physical shifts that produced chances and wore down the Rangers’ defense.

Point being, the Lightning are finding their stride really for the first time in these playoffs. They teased teams at times in the opening rounds and got the job done when it mattered, but as far as a team-deep performance, these back-to-back wins over the Rangers is easily the most complete in terms of team-wide contributions.

"I think we just played Lightning hockey," Palat said. "We played with speed, and that's what we do. We played one of [our] best games in the playoffs today and I'm really happy we won."

Impressive, too, was a young team’s response after seeing Dan Boyle tie it for the Rangers with 1:56 left in the third period. That would have crushed these kids a year ago. But now you’re seeing a team grow in confidence as the playoff lessons harden them more and more.

"Did it suck that we gave up that tying goal? Sure it did," Cooper said. "But, it's the growth of this team. They don't think 'Oh, poor us' anymore. It's 'We don't care. Let's just go out and win this game.' And that's what they did."

It is the veteran team in the other dressing room, and most notably the veteran netminder, that’s suddenly sounding concerned.

"It’s really challenging for me the way they move the puck," a rather honest Lundqvist said afterward. "The way they find open ice in the slot, and scoring chances right in front. I just need to dig deep here to try to be more consistent with my game plan. Try to challenge the shooter then they pass and sometimes you stay back. As a team, if we can be a little bit better, but also I have to be better. Honestly, you’re not going to win if I give up six goals."

Now Lundqvist knows how Carey Price felt last round. The Hart and Vezina Trophy finalist threw himself under the bus after the final game, sounding like a beaten man after the all-world skill of the Lightning had the upper hand on him.

Now the Bolts have dropped a dozen goals on King Henrik on 66 shots in the past two games.

"We don’t look at this," shrugged Kucherov when asked about pumping 12 goals in two games on one of the greats. "We’re just trying to score as much as we can, it doesn’t matter who is in the net."

It doesn’t matter who is in net.

It's tough to tell if these kids are cocky, confident or just plain naïve enough to not know any better.

Regardless, right now they’re imposing their style of play on the Rangers, shredding one of the NHL’s best defensive squads like it’s shinny hockey.

Which on Wednesday night also allowed the Lightning to play defense like it was shinny hockey. But hey, nobody’s perfect.

I mentioned this after New York’s terrific defensive performance in a 2-1 win last Saturday in Game 1: Put a blindfold on and if you’re told the score is 2-1 on any given night in this series, assume a Rangers victory; if it’s 4-3 or more, assume the Lightning got the track meet of a game they wanted and won.

"We're just trying to play every game the same way, play hard, play with speed and make some plays," Palat said. "We did that and we're real happy. Hopefully we keep going with that."

If they do, they’ll find themselves in the Stanley Cup finals soon enough.