Following a 1-4-1 skid over the last 10 days, the Tampa Bay Lightning are on course to finish with 70 team points, which would be the NHL franchise’s fewest since the 2001-02 season.

Since 2001-02, the Lightning have won a Stanley Cup -- in 2003-04 -- and they posted more than 90 points in four consecutive seasons after recording just 69 in 2001-02. The streak ended a year ago, when the Lightning crashed to the bottom of the NHL and missed the playoffs for only the second time in six seasons.

When you factor in the upswing in scoring in 2005-06, the year after the lockout, the team’s ability to put the puck in the net has been in decline since winning the Stanley Cup.

Lightning’s Goals per Game, 2003-04 through 2008-09
(NHL rank in parentheses)

2003-04 2.99 (3)
2005-06 3.00 (16)
2006-07 2.96 (12)
2007-08 2.70 (16)
2008-09 2.51 (26)

Last season, Tampa Bay traded away one of the big scorers from its Stanley Cup-winning team. Brad Richards, who tallied 26 goals and 79 points for the 2003-04 champions, was dealt to Dallas to free up cap money for a long-term deal for defenseman Dan Boyle.

The top scoring threats who remain are having off years, and it seems to be a trend for Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis.

Tampa Bay Goal Scorers

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .06-07. . . . . .07-08. . . . . .08-09*
Vincent Lecavalier. . . . . .52. . . . . . . . 40. . . . . . . . 34
Martin St. Louis. . . . . . . .43. . . . . . . . 25. . . . . . . . 27
Vaclav Prospal. . . . . . . . .14. . . . . . . . 33. . . . . . . . 20

*current total projected over 82-game season

The 33-year-old St. Louis recorded 38 goals in 2003-04 and peaked at 43 in 2006-07. Lecavalier contributed 32 goals to the championship season, and he also notched his career high of 52 in ’06-07. St. Louis and Lecavalier together have just 45 this season.

Lecavalier, who turns 29 in April, scored 40 goals a year ago. That’s his only other season with as many as 40 in 10 NHL campaigns, so it may be more reasonable to expect 30-40 a season from him.

Vaclav Prospal’s 33-goal performance last season probably was an aberration. The 12-year veteran had never scored more than 25 goals in a season before, and he likely won’t do it again.

The Lightning added Ryan Malone (21 goals) over the summer, and 19-year-old rookie Steven Stamkos, the first overall pick the Lightning secured with their 2007-08 crash-and-burn, has tallied 11 in his first NHL stint.

Otherwise, the Lightning looked for a boost from free agent Radam Vrbata, who scored 27 goals for Phoenix last season, but had tallied just three goals when he left the team in December to return to the Czech Republic.

Jeff Hallpern, a pickup in the Brad Richards deal last season, scored 10 goals for Tampa Bay after the trade -- in 19 games. Then he blew out a knee playing for Team USA at the 2008 IIHF World Championships. Hallpern returned in December and has only four goals in 31 games.

These and other new additions were expected to push Tampa Bay back into contention this season, but it’s been a disappointing winter. And not only are the new guys to blame.

St. Louis has just four goals in the last 20 games. It’s four goals in the last 15 games for Lecavalier. Both have been unable to find the next in six straight contests, a stretch in which the Lightning are 1-4-1 and have scored just 14 goals.

It will be a second straight spring without playoff hockey in the Tampa area, as the Lightning have fallen 16 points behind the eighth-seeded team in the Eastern Conference.