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Kane aggravated a lower-body injury he suffered Sunday and Tyler Johnson came down sick, leaving the Hawks with just 10 forwards available for the third period of their 4-1 defeat Tuesday.

CHICAGO — Opening their three-game road trip Tuesday night against the league’s worst team, the Lightning had plenty of opportunities to pull away from the Blackhawks at the United Center, but found themselves going into the final period of regulation still deadlocked at 1.

Now working hands-on with the Hawks’ forwards instead of being pulled in a hundred directions as interim head coach, King is back where he’s most comfortable. But he’s understandably disappointed by the offensive results so far.

“Obviously we’ve been losing a lot of games and I think it wears on a lot of guys,” Patrick Kane said.

The Hawks led 2-0 but allowed the game’s last five goals.

Listed at just 5-11 and 193 pounds, Mitchell will never be confused with a big, rugged blueliner. Instead, Richardson hopes Mitchell shoots and moves the puck.

It has been 122 games since a Blackhawks defenseman scored a power-play goal. A particularly dismal power-play performance Saturday — 0-for-5 with two short-handed goals allowed — guaranteed the streak will extends into its third calendar year.

Phillips managed to stand out on another otherwise-depressing, winless Hawks road trip, which ended Saturday with a 4-1 loss to the Blue Jackets.

Johnson, who leads Hawks forwards in points and scoring chances per minute at five-on-five this season, recently even took the initiative to suggest a new play to coach Luke Richardson.

The Hawks were generally clean and efficient in all three zones Thursday. But an inexplicable error by Boris Katchouk and a continued lack of goal-scoring doomed them to a 3-1 loss.

ST. LOUIS — For a team, like the Blues, that is treading water in the standings, there’s no better opponent to come across than the Chicago Blackhawks.