Lightning 3
Devils 2
TAMPA – The Devils have already lost as many games, both in regulation and in overtime, as they did all of last season, and yet GM Lou Lamoriello is aiming at the Stanley Cup again, instead of rebuilding his franchise.
It surely doesn’t seem the right verdict on last night’s evidence.
The Devils opened a five-game road trip by losing their third straight away from home, falling 3-2 to the Lightning here. The loss left New Jersey with one victory in its last six (1-3-1-1).
The Devils’ 19 regulation losses and three OT defeats equal those figures of last year, when they went 48-19-12-3 and still didn’t win the Cup. It is the confirmation of a stunning fall from contention.
“It’s not shocking at all, not the way we’ve been losing,” Bobby Holik said. “We’re not getting outplayed, but we still lose, and that’s probably worse.”
Despite struggling just to stay in playoff position, now 20-19-6-3 with the season 58 percent finished, the Devils’ GM yesterday told The Post that he believes his team should be a Stanley Cup contender again this spring,
“Yeah, I do. There is no question in my mind that we have the ingredients,” Lamoriello said. “We have to use the ingredients together and feed off each other. But there’s no question in my mind that it can’t be done, or shouldn’t be done.”
Lamoriello implied that deals may be in the works to bolster his squadron.
“You can always get better and you can always do things, but you have to make sure you do it for the sake of getting better, rather than just doing something,” Lamoriello said. “You never want to be in a rebuilding situation at any time for the wrong reasons.”
Lamoriello is underwhelmed by his team’s performance.
“This team should be 10-12 points ahead of where we are, the way we’ve let some games slip away that shouldn’t have slipped away,” Lamoriello said.
Two more points slipped away last night.
Christian Berglund opened the scoring for New Jersey with his second NHL goal, 2:27 into play.
Vincent Lecavalier, who stands as one of the candidates for Lamoriello to acquire if he was rebuilding, squared matters at 9:51 after luring Scott Stevens out of position with a puckhandling display.
Stevens again was out of position after jousting with Ben Clymer, who put Tampa in front at 17:01.
Ex-Devil Dave Andreychuk passed Bobby Orr for 46th place all-time with his 646th assist while tying Paul Coffey for 14th place with his 1,409th game played.
Andrei Zyuzin was back in the lineup after sitting two straight and was victimized as Martin St. Louis made it 3-1 for Tampa at 18:30 of the first. Zyuzin was stripped of the puck by Fredrik Modin to give St. Louis his 16th on a breakaway.
Sergei Brylin pulled the Devils within one with 6:06 left in regulation. But two goals again was not enough.
The loss further erased Devil hopes for a sixth straight 100-point season, which would tie for second-best all-time behind Montreal’s eight. That mark would require 51 points in the final 34 games, a 23-6-5 record that seems impossible now.
The GM disputed the contention that his team needs to replace Alexander Mogilny, who scored 43 for the Devils last year before walking to Toronto.
“I don’t think there’s any particular area or position [needing help]. I know there isn’t,” Lamoriello said. “The key to our success is our overall balance.”
