Penalties hold back Chicago Blackhawks' in loss

One after the other, a steady stream of Chicago Blackhawks made their way to the penalty box Wednesday night in Philadelphia.

Teuvo Teravainen, Jonathan Toews, Ryan Garbutt, Viktor Tikhonov and Artemi Panarin all were whistled for infractions in the first 31:12 of the Hawks' 3-0 loss to the Flyers.

The Hawks did a good job of killing off most of those power-play opportunities, but the fact they were short-handed so often made it difficult to get anything going from an offensive standpoint in the first two periods.

And in the end, they paid for it with a loss to a team that had scored just 4 goals in its first three games.

"We took some careless penalties and gave them momentum," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville told reporters. "We stood around and watched for the majority of the game."

Sam Gagner and Claude Giroux scored second-period goals for the Flyers (2-1-1), Matt Read added an insurance goal with 2:35 left in the game, and goalie Michal Neuvirth made 30 saves in the victory.

Neuvirth has posted back-to-back shutouts, making 61 saves in the process.

"The guys in front of me have been unbelievable - blocking shots, great sticks," Neuvirth said. "Our penalty killing has been unreal. The last two games (have) been a great team effort."

This was the first time the Hawks were shut out since March 21 of last season. Including playoffs, the Hawks had scored at least 1 goal in 37 straight games.

Corey Crawford was solid in net for the Hawks, making 26 saves. They fell to 2-2-0 and still haven't won in Philadelphia in the regular season since November 1996.

"We're still feeling each other out as a team, making sure we're all prepared, we're all ready to go before the game," Jonathan Toews said. "It starts with the guys that have been here for a number of years - guys that know what it takes, especially early on."

The best scoring chance for the Hawks came while short-handed midway through the second period when Viktor Svedberg zipped a pass to a wide-open and streaking Marian Hossa. Hossa, though, shot the puck into Neuvirth's right pad and the Flyers maintained their 1-0 edge.

Said Neuvirth: "That was a huge save for us, definitely."

The Hawks outshot the Flyers 15-6 in the third period and had numerous big-time scoring chances.

Panarin, though, was denied at the net by winger Wayne Simmons when Simmons just got enough of Panarin's stick to keep the Russian from scoring into a wide-open net at 19:05.

Toews also could have made it 2-1, but he couldn't force the puck past Neuvirth after getting a pass from Hossa with 4:25 to go.

Viktor Tikhonov was one of the few Hawks who stood out Wednesday and played with Toews and Hossa on the top line during the third period.

Still, Quenneville didn't want to talk about mixing up the lines after the game.

"It wasn't about trying different things tonight," he said. "We were brutal."

• Before Wednesday's game, the Flyers honored Kimmo Timonen, who spent seven seasons playing for Philadelphia before being traded to the Blackhawks last season. The 40-year-old Timonen, who played in 1,213 games (including playoffs) in the NHL, retired after the Hawks won the Stanley Cup in June.

"The people who admired Kimmo's career got to feel, 'Wow, what a great finish to … a tremendous career,'" Quenneville told reporters in Philly. "So it's fitting that we're here and he gets honored here tonight."

Timonen said that more than 10,000 people showed up when he brought the Cup home to Kuopio, Finland.