There are a variety of ways to relinquish a third-period lead. Style of play will be most familiar to Lightning fans through the first 20 games. (For the Lightning it has been a Goldilocks issue, ranging from too aggressive to too conservative.) But this afternoon, it was failure of execution that nearly foundered a surefire Lightning victory. The Lightning conceded a four-goal lead in the third period, and nearly lost to the Philadelphia Flyers due to their apathy in the defensive zone.

Once their lead was reduced from 5-1 to 5-3, one would think that a tightening contest with plenty of time to play would instill fear and motivation in the Tampa Bay skaters. And offensively, the players were engaged. But the Lightning’s indifference in their own zone was evident and would prove toxic, nearly costing them the game.

On the Travis Konecny goal to decrease the Lightning lead to one goal, Erik Cernak tossed an area pass out of the defensive zone and right into the lap of Tyler Johnson, who was his outlet in the neutral zone. But Johnson could not control the puck, which was snatched away by Sean Couturier to lead the counterattack. Once the puck was moved to Claude Giroux on the left side, the Lightning stopped skating on both sides. Cernak failed to step up and provide a tight gap on Giroux. And Konecny and Couturier, racing up the left lane to the net against Ryan McDonagh and Johnson respectively, won inside position against the Lightning defenders. Each Flyers skater was a stride faster, and McDonagh’s failure to not just thwart, but even challenge Konecny’s charge toward the net put Louis Domingue in an impossible situation.

Things only got worse. With the score 5-4, Flyers defenseman Robert Hagg benefited from a wacky bounce that led to an odd-man rush. But Mikhail Sergachev being caught flat-footed and taking a horrific angle on the entry wasn’t the issue. Despite the sea parting for Hagg, Domingue made the initial save on Hagg’s shot attempt. The problem for the Lightning came on the second-chance opportunity by Wayne Simmonds, and the lethargy demonstrated by Sergachev and J.T. Miller to assert any pressure on trying to clear the opposition off the crease. Simmonds pounded away at the loose puck, and Miller and Sergachev didn’t even touch him.

Other execution miscues preceded this 30-second meltdown. Cernak committed undisciplined penalties, which resulted in the Flyers’ second power play goal of the game and precipitated their comeback. And on the Flyers’ third power play goal, when the Lightning got a bad bounce off McDonagh’s foot, Alex Killorn offered a weak effort to prevent Couturier from pouncing on the loose puck. A failure to box out and stick-check is the through line from goals three through five.

The silver lining is that the Lightning won anyway, and that is solely because their depth at forward is ridiculous. The first line added no offense at even strength, and the Lightning still put up six. Adam Erne’s first goal was awesome, and worth meditating on because, when Ondrej Palat comes back, Erne cannot be made a healthy scratch again. He is clearly one of the Bolts’ best twelve forwards.

With the score 0-0 in the second period, and a minute and a half burned on the power play, Yanni Goude exploded through the neutral zone and swung the puck to Erne to gain entry to the offensive zone. But it was the touch from Erne that was so impressive. Erne carried the puck a few feet deeper into the offensive zone, and right before a Flyers penalty killer closed on him, he shoveled the puck to Gourde who had advanced to the inside of the right circle. But Erne has hockey sense, and after moving the puck, he moved himself to the inside and toward the dot. Gourde completed the give-and-go, dishing it back to Erne who flung a shot upstairs on a very quick release. Erne is playing fourth line for the Lightning, and yet, that type of skill level bespeaks a player with a lot of offensive upside. He isn’t a first-line player, but on most teams he would be playing in the top nine.

Aside from hockey sense and a quick release on his shot, Erne isn’t too shabby a playmaker either. His primary assist on the Cedric Paquette goal to put the Lightning up 2-0 had me salivating. He retrieved the puck on Braydon Coburn’s shot attempt, and shielded it from Andrew MacDonald as he transported it into the slot. Erne then slipped the puck to the back side where Paquette was able to deposit it into the net near post. And this was against the Flyers’ top line!

Finally, there is the Anthony Cirelli overtime winner. Sure, it was a 3-on-3, but Cirelli spun off pressure from Simmonds in the corner – no small feat – and managed to steer the puck toward the slot. Once he got in a scoring area, Cirelli snapped a shot glove-side right before he ran out of room because there was a defender in front of him. That individual effort by Cirelli indicates a very high talent level for a 21-year-old, and coach Jon Cooper knows this, which is why Cirelli got the third opportunity after the Point-Gourde and Nikita Kucherov-Steven Stamkos duos. This type of skill from its depth players is something Tampa Bay failed to impose on the Capitals in the Eastern Conference finals. This year looks like a different story.

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