It originally looked like Lightning coach Rick Tocchet was sending a message to Vinny Lecavalier Sunday afternoon, when the captain was moved off a line with Marty St. Louis and onto one with Drew Miller and Stephane Veilleux. It certainly turned some heads.

Tocchet said it's not the fact Lecavalier has struggled to score goals that has him concerned, it's the fact that the other parts of his game - defensive responsibilities, finishing checks, etc - has slipped in the past couple games, and "we've got to clean him up." Tocchet said by pairing Lecavalier with two "north-south guys," and a line with lower offensive expecations, it could help.

Plus, with Tocchet saying they need a "spark," this will re-unite a trio of St. Louis, Steven Stamkos and Ryan Malone that have "kind of carried us."

Tocchet acknowledged that often times, when scorers struggle offensively, it can negatively impact other areas of their game. But he made it clear that if he sees it happening, he'll address it - and fast.

 “Not finishing checks, cheating a little bit, the little things that I will not let…It’s unacceptable,” Tocchet said. “That’s the one thing I came into this year, if I see your game slipping – if you’re not scoring, I can live with it – but if you’re turning away from checks, and not battling down low defensively, if you’re constantly on the ice and teams are getting chances against you, videos don’t lie. This is something we’re going to correct the next day, it’s not going to be corrected next week. We’ve got to attack it.”

Lecavalier, to his credit, said while he's frustrated he's not scoring he understands it's "real important" to keep up the other parts of his game, and he's confident the goals will come.

Tocchet said he was not "picking on" Vinny, as several players need to pick it up, especially coming off a 2-1 loss Saturday in which "we had no life."

That's why Tocchet is eager to see how the team responds on the upcoming road trip.

“I think it’s a very defining – who we are – this week, the efforts and the buildings we’re going into,” Tocchet said. “When we start to lose focus and we lose our grittiness, you can tell we’re a different hockey club, we’re in trouble as a hockey club. But when we’re focused and got a little bit of grit to us, we can compete...
“You’re looking for your leaders, and you’re looking for the new guys to get this trip on the right (foot).”

Tidbits....

*The line pairings were set up like this for Sunday's practice in Brandon: Malone was with Stamkos and St. Louis, Halpern was with Wright and Tanguay, Lecavalier with Miller and Veilleux, and Fedoruk with Konopka and Downie

*Mike Smith will start in goal against the Flyers

-- JOE SMITH

joesmith@sptimes.com