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The Chicago Blackhawks hope to leave a better impression on their fans when they play their season finale against the visiting San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night. The Blackhawks (28-39-14, 70 points) heard boos from their home crowd during a listless 5-1 loss to the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. “I don’t know if it’s unwarranted, but it’s not fun,” Chicago defenseman Wyatt Kaiser said. The Blackhawks will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season and haven’t made the postseason in a regular 82-game slate since 2017. They haven’t won a playoff round since winning the Stanley Cup in 2015. “At some point, I know that this is a young team and we will take off,” Chicago coach

The Buffalo Sabres wrap up the regular season Wednesday at the Dallas Stars, and for the first time since the 2010-11 season, the regular-season finale will not be Buffalo’s last game. Coach Lindy Ruff’s team has been one of the NHL’s hottest over the past four months, winning 39 out of 52 games since Dec. 8. Thanks to that torrid stretch, the Sabres (50-23-8, 108 points) clinched the Atlantic Division title Monday with a 5-1 road win against the Chicago Blackhawks. “This last four months has been so much fun coaching this group,” Ruff told reporters Monday. “You hope to get the team in the right place and become consistent, but these guys have exceeded my expectations.” Tage Thompson scored

The Vegas Golden Knights can clinch their third Pacific Division title in four years when they host the Seattle Kraken in their regular-season finale on Wednesday night in Las Vegas. Vegas (38-26-17, 93 points) brings a season-best nine-game point streak (6-0-3) into the contest and has yet to lose in regulation (6-0-1) since John Tortorella took over for Bruce Cassidy as head coach on March 29. Edmonton (40-30-11, 91 points) is in second in the division with one game remaining. At the time of the coaching change, the Golden Knights were sputtering, just four points above the playoff line and having lost six of seven games and 12 of their previous 16. But the change to Tortorella, who coached Tampa

The Utah Mammoth will try to get back in the win column when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night. This is the third and final game between these Central Division rivals this season. The Mammoth won the two previous meetings, 3-2 in Winnipeg on Oct. 26 and 4-3 on Dec. 21 in Salt Lake City. Utah (42-32-6, 90 points) sits in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference playoff race. Leading scorer Clayton Keller (85 points, including a team-high 59 assists) and company are also looking to end a two-game losing skid. After winning five straight games and punching their ticket to the postseason, the Mammoth fell 4-1 at home to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. They