'Pretty Bad Effort' For Lightning In 7-3 Defeat

If the first three games under interim coach Rick Tocchet had Tampa Bay taking steps forward, then the Lightning fell into a chasm Sunday.

After earning points in each of the first three games since Tocchet took over for Barry Melrose, Tampa Bay came out flat before flat-lining its way to a 7-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

"This is nowhere near the effort that we need, the desperation," right wing Marty St. Louis said. "We have a long way to go, but it's just really disappointing when you take some great strides forward and then you take a dump like that ... it's hard."

Dainius Zubrus, who had two goals on the season coming into the game, tied a franchise record and set a career high with four goals. The Devils had built a 5-0 lead and chased Olie Kolzig through the midway point of the game before the Lightning showed signs of waking up. Radim Vrbata, Ryan Malone and St. Louis scored in a span of 3:34 to make it a two-goal game heading into the third, but without the right kind of effort, the comeback attempt was futile.

"The trainers won't be passing out too many ice bags after this one tonight. That was a pretty bad effort. Not much grit out there tonight," Tocchet said. "It's disappointing because we started kind of climbing a little bit of a ladder."

Tampa Bay never looked like it was into the game, let alone in the game. New Jersey scored on its first shot of the game - a deflection from the left circle by Mike Rupp - less than two minutes into the game. The Devils enjoyed long stretches of possession inside the Lightning zone, jumping on what seemed like every loose puck.

"It was definitely a tough one tonight, we didn't play to the best of our potential and we all know that," said captain Vinny Lecavalier, who was minus-4 for the game, as was Malone.

With the momentum the team had built in the past three games - including the first victory under Tocchet on Friday against Nashville - Sunday was one of those games that not many sensed was on the horizon.

"We had a really good practice Saturday, this was a five o'clock game, we don't play again until Wednesday ... all the stars lined up to be a good game and it's a dud," Tocchet said. "The guys dropped the ball on this one. You don't know if you are going to win or lose a game, it's just the compete level, it was pretty bad tonight."