TAMPA, Fla. — It was like stepping out of a time machine and getting another look at hockey before the invention of the neutral zone trap.

Blinding speed. Skilled plays. Goals galore.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers challenged the notion that scoring is dead on a wildly entertaining evening at Amalie Arena, with each erasing a two-goal lead before Nikita Kucherov froze the clock by scoring 3:33 into overtime.

The final score, fittingly, was 6-5. Some of the best games this sport has ever seen ended with that scoreline and from a pure entertainment standpoint this was a classic.

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“I like it,” beamed Lightning forward Ondrej Palat. “I think it’s good hockey for fans. It’s up and down, it’s just fun to play.”

The story once again was the trio of Palat, Kucherov and Tyler Johnson.

They scored four more goals and have now accounted for 25 of the 47 the team has in these playoffs.

What made the Lightning particularly dangerous on Wednesday was the fact the Alex Killorn-Valtteri Filppula-Steven Stamkos trio also had its legs, and if they can continue to have two forward groups this lethal they’re going to be awfully tough to beat.

Of course, it wasn’t a perfect game for either side. And that’s kind of the point.

The Lighting fell behind 2-0 before rallying in the second period, but still allowed Dan Boyle to tie the game with less than two minutes remaining in regulation.

“I’m glad this one ended early (in overtime),” said Stamkos. “There was a pretty crazy pace to this game tonight and I’m not sure how much gas we had left.”

This was not Rangers hockey. They’ve played nine 2-1 games in these playoffs and aren’t particularly comfortable with a run-and-gun track meet.

A seed of doubt certainly seems to have been planted between the ears of Henrik Lundqvist, who has uncharacteristically allowed 12 goals on 66 shots in the last two games of this series. Kucherov’s winner came on a seeing-eye wrist shot from 35 feet out.

“For some reason I couldn’t pick it up,” said Lundqvist. “It comes at me and looks like it’s coming towards me and then I’m just late reacting. I don’t know why I didn’t pick it up. It’s a tough one, it really is. …

“Honestly, you’re not going to win if I give up six goals.”

The good news for New York is that it only trails 2-1 in the series. And right now no one should be surprised to see the Eastern Conference final go the distance.

For the good of the sport, let’s hope they don’t find a way to choke the life out of the remaining games. There’s no reason to expect 6-5 every night, but watching two teams as skilled as these wind up and go is really something to see.

“I don’t know how it looks on TV, but when you’re standing there (on the bench) it is, pardon the pun, lightning fast,” said Tampa coach Jon Cooper. “It’s just amazing how the skill level and the speed, and how these guys can play the way they do at that high pace.”

It’s pretty rare at this time of year to see teams making so many plays. Jesper Fast buried a nice breakaway deke early for New York before Stamkos finished a 2-on-1 with Killorn. Both of Palat’s goals were beauties while Kevin Hayes made a great pass to set up Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh for a goal in the third period.

You really didn’t know what was going to happen next.

Even before Kucherov scored in overtime, Lightning winger J.T. Brown broke in alone and was stopped by Lundqvist.

After just three games, Tampa’s 13 goals are more than either of the Rangers’ previous opponents managed. Washington scored 12 times over seven games while Pittsburgh managed just eight in five.

The Lightning forwards are all over the offensive zone and seem to be creating space in the middle of the ice. What’s more, they’re not easily discouraged. There was a time the youngest team left in these playoffs wouldn’t have rallied from 2-0 down.

“It’s the growth of this team,” said Cooper. “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.”

The Lightning were the NHL’s highest-scoring team in the regular season. New York produced the third-best total. This should be

free-flowing entertaining hockey despite what’s normally on display in the playoffs.

The only hint of disappointment to be found in the Lightning dressing room came from Palat, who ended a shift just as Kucherov scored the overtime winner on a 1-on-2 rush.

“I was so tired so I went to the bench with (Johnson),” said Palat. “Then I turned my head and he shot the puck and scored. I was thinking ‘it’s too bad I couldn’t celly.”‘

What fun.