All bad things must come to an end.
At least the Chicago Blackhawks finished a torturous season Friday with a point in 3-2 overtime loss against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center to finish 28-42-12.
The Hawks never got a shot off in the extra period before Casey Mittelstadt scored the game-winning goal.
Interim coach Derek King ends the season on a three-game points streak. After the Hawks fired Jeremy Colliton and installed King Nov. 6, he was the first Hawks coach to start 4-0-0.
Still, his Hawks scuffled through a six-game winless streak through December and January and an eight-game winless streak in late March and early April.
Alex DeBrincat matched a career-best 41 goals, though it’s 15 more markers than the next closest Hawk: Patrick Kane at 26.
Kane couldn’t top a personal high either: 66 assists.
The bulk of the first two periods weren’t exactly an exhibition of precision passing on either side (the Hawks had 10 giveaways through two periods), with the teams combining for 15 shots on goal until Dominik Kubalík broke the scoreless monotony 8 minutes, 47 seconds into the second.
It was Kubalík’s 15th of the season, and the heady low-to-high backhander that set him up was rookie Alex Vlasic’s first assist.
After Tage Thompson put the Sabres on the board in the third period, Dylan Strome notched his 22nd goal of the season. Strome finished with two goals and three assists in the last nine games.
However, Buffalo rookie Owen Power slipped a shot past Collin Delia with 5 1/2 minutes left remaining for his second-career goal.
