Wednesday, 4 a.m.
In their race for the NHL playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning are heading in the wrong direction.
The slumping Bolts lost again Tuesday night, falling to last-place Chicago 4-1. That made it four losses in five games. The Bolts have scored just 10 goals in those games, and just one in their last two games.
The lack of finishing was painfully aware against Chicago, which has won only 16 times this year, second worst in the league. But after falling behind 1-0, the Blackhawks scored four straight goals.
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That was plenty. Goalie Arvin Soderblom stopped 33 of 34 shots.
“If we’re going to completely dissect the game,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, “we had ample chances to not only get the lead we did but to extend it. For some reason, we’re making every goalie we play look like a Vezina candidate.”
The Bolts are now tied with Columbus for the last wild-card slot in the standings.
Tampa Bay played without goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was ill. Backup Jonas Johansson stopped only 16 of 19 shots. He has now lost four of his last six games.