The goals came in bunches in the first two periods, but little of what transpired Tuesday night was beneficial to the Chicago Blackhawks, who lost 7-4 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the season series finale.
What had been a long shot of making the playoffs going into the game was reduced to a whisker. With the loss, the Hawks’ chances dropped to 1% according to playoffstatus.com.
Just as they did against the Nashville Predators this season, the Hawks went 1-7 against the Lightning, with the lone win coming in a shootout.
That wasn’t the end of the bad news.
Hawks defenseman Adam Boqvist got hit by Erik Cernak about five minutes into the second period and skated off holding his right wrist. He didn’t return.
Goaltender Kevin Lankinen was pulled for just the second time this season after giving up three first-period goals. He saved 8 of 11 shots.
Malcolm Subban took over to open the second period and gave up three more.
The Hawks came up empty on their first six power plays, extending their scoreless streak to 11 power plays over three games.
But with 6:09 left, Dominik Kubalik ended the drought with a slap shot, assisted by Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat.
