On Tuesday, the Blackhawks, Blue Jackets and Predators won. The Stars did not. That’s bad news.

The playoff race in the Central Division has more often resembled a crawl, with four middling to mediocre teams trading places on the inside track to fourth place. Lulls have come and gone. Stretches of dominance have not.

All the while, the final playoff spot in the division has been there for the taking — even for the injured but still disappointing Stars. It’s been an accommodating group of teams (Nashville, Chicago and Columbus) that has kept the Stars in the hunt despite Dallas winning consecutive games just once since late January and being over .500 only once since late February.

Not Tuesday night.

The Stars lost 4-2 to the Blackhawks, as a third-period comeback bid fell short after Chicago carried a three-goal lead after two periods. Losing points to the Blackhawks hurts enough. But checking the scoreboard to see that the Predators and Blue Jackets both won? Salt in the wound.

The result is a seven-point deficit to the Predators with three games in hand. Nashville is on pace for 60 points, which means Dallas (13-14-10) would have to go 12-7-0 in its final 19 games to match that.

“It’s pretty simple from my standpoint: you’re not getting in the playoffs with 36 points,” assistant coach John Stevens said. “You’re not. So we can sit here and hope that teams lose, but until we start helping ourselves, we’re not going to get where we want to be. The other teams can do what they want, we have to take care of our own business.”

Andrew Cogliano scored a shorthanded goal 89 seconds into the third period to spoil Kevin Lankinen’s shutout bid, and Radek Faksa scored with 6:14 left to make it a one-goal game. The Stars never found the equalizer, as Chicago received goals from each of their top-line forwards (Alex DeBrincat, Kirby Dach and Patrick Kane) plus Dominik Kubalik.

Stars coach Rick Bowness missed the game because he was still in Raleigh, N.C., in COVID-19 protocol following a positive test result Sunday. Bowness, who does not have symptoms and is vaccinated, believes the result was a false positive, something that also sidelined goaltender Anton Khudobin over the weekend in Carolina.

Stevens assumed head coaching duties Tuesday night after filling in for Bowness during the third period in Carolina on Sunday. Stevens said Bowness received one negative test and the team was awaiting the result of a second test to determine whether Bowness could join the Stars in Chicago.

The Stars struggled to contain the Blackhawks’ rush attack, as Chicago produced odd-man rush after odd-man rush off Stars mistakes.

On the first goal, Cogliano tried to dump the puck along the boards but instead hit teammate Jamie Oleksiak, leading to Dach’s goal. After the game, Cogliano called the decision “a bad play by me, a bonehead play.”

“We just played right into it,” Cogliano said. “It seems like we’re just making the wrong play at the wrong time. I think that’s what we did tonight against that team. That’s exactly what they want.”

On the second Chicago goal, Blake Comeau attempted to find Oleksiak at the point, but his pass was deflected and led to an odd-man rush since Miro Heiskanen was overlapping down the boards. Kubalik cashed in.

“I left [Heiskanen] in a tough spot,” Comeau said. “Just one of those plays. I thought I saw something and their guy had a good stick and it went the other way and cost us. That’s one that I’d like to have back, disappointing to see that one go in for sure.”

The Stars will finish their six-game road trip Thursday night against the Blackhawks, and they’re hoping it’s another chance to claw upward in the Central.

“I think if we’re looking at the uphill climb that we have then we’re worrying about games down the road, it’s going to hurt us,” Comeau said. “We’ve just got to approach it one game at a time.”

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