New Jersey went 2-0 up in the first through Petr Sykora and Dainius Zubrus before Steve Downie and Blair Jones tied the game in the final few minutes of the period.
The Devils dominated the second and extended their lead to 5-2 on goals from Zach Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk and Adam Henrique.
Tampa Bay goaltender Dwayne Roloson was pulled after allowing New Jersey’s third goal 56 seconds into the second period. He gave way to Mathieu Garon, who surrendered the next two scores to the Devils.
There would be no easy cruise in the third though as Stamkos pulled a goal back midway through the period then grabbed his 18th of the season in the final minute to make New Jersey (15-13-1) sweat.
“That’s been our problem. We’ve had leads and we’re not doing a good job of protecting them,” Parise told reporters after finishing with a goal and two assists.
“We have to address that and see what we can do differently.”
Both teams are struggling in the Eastern Conference, with New Jersey coming into the game losers of five of their last seven, while the Lightning (12-16-2) fell to their seventh loss in eight games.
Tampa Bay outshot New Jersey 36-22 yet still came up short.
“We’re finding ways to lose games right now,” Stamkos told reporters. “We showed a lot of character, like we always do; never quit and come back — but the second period killed us.”
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Kings fired coach Terry Murray on Monday after a slow start to a season of high expectations.
Murray was replaced by assistant coach John Stevens, who will be the Kings’ interim head coach when they open a four-game road trip Tuesday in Boston.
Murray was behind the long-struggling Kings’ bench for their best moments in the past decade, leading Los Angeles to consecutive playoff appearances after an eight-year absence.
He has the highest winning percentage (.560) of any coach in Los Angeles franchise history, but the Kings lost both of their first-round playoff series while under his direction.
Murray clearly has struggled to reach his current club, which is mired in mediocrity after entertaining hopes of contending for the Stanley Cup. Los Angeles has lost four straight games to drop to 13-12-4, culminating in a lifeless effort in a 2-1 home loss to Dallas last Saturday.
The Kings have sunk to 11th place in the Western Conference standings while managing just 65 goals, second-fewest in the NHL. Despite adding forward Mike Richards and Simon Gagne in the offseason, Los Angeles is scoring an NHL-worst 2.24 goals per game, including just 13 in its last eight games.
Murray is the fifth coach to be fired already this season in the always-impatient NHL. He joins St. Louis’ Davis Payne, Carolina’s Paul Maurice, Washington’s Bruce Boudreau and Anaheim’s Randy Carlyle, who was replaced by Boudreau on Nov. 30.
Although Murray has a deserved reputation as an excellent defensive coach, he lost his job largely because the Kings have struggled to score goals despite boosting their payroll to its highest level in several years. Los Angeles general manager Dean Lombardi believes his club has the talent to compete with the NHL’s best teams, but just three players have scored more than five goals this season, and most of the Kings’ forward are mired in miserable offensive seasons, including Justin Williams, Dustin Penner, captain Dustin Brown, Brad Richardson and Jarret Stoll.
Murray went 139-106-30 with the Kings after taking over the club in 2008. Los Angeles earned 46 victories — matching the franchise record for wins — in each of the past two seasons while racking up 199 total points, the most in any two-year stretch for the club.
Murray is one victory shy of 500 in a coaching career that also included stops with Washington, Florida and Philadelphia. But the 61-year-old’s impassive, stone-faced demeanor behind the bench sometimes appeared to be reflected in his Kings, who showed little passion for long stretches of the season.
The Kings entered the season with championship expectations for a club built on a solid defensive system in front of goalie Jonathan Quick. Los Angeles has an impressive corps of defensemen around prodigy Drew Doughty, who held out through training camp to get a $56 million contract, and Jack Johnson, but that defensive toughness hasn’t been bolstered by offensive proficiency, with the Kings acknowledging they frequently play ugly hockey.
Murray was under contract through next season.
