Chicago Blackhawks staying loose despite the losing

Watching the Chicago Blackhawks during morning skate and pregame warmups before they lost to Anaheim 3-2 on Thursday night at the United Center, you'd swear they had 35 wins and were well on their way to a 10th straight postseason berth.

During skate, Patrick Sharp attempted to hold Jonathan Toews so he wouldn't have to do the "penalty lap" for being last to the center-ice circle. After a bit of chiding from their mates, they both ended up doing the lap.

During warmups, Sharp and Lance Bouma engaged in a playful scuffle along the boards, clearly trying to keep things loose.

Obviously, this has been a difficult, hard-to-fathom season for the Hawks, but publicly sulking or ripping each other is not something anyone is about to do.

"People say the season's over with," forward Tommy Wingels said, "but all we can do is go out there and play. Win one and give ourselves a chance to try and feel good about it, and try to put ourselves back into it."

That didn't happen Thursday despite the Hawks taking a 2-0 lead on second-period goals by Duncan Keith and Brandon Saad. Anaheim stormed back with 2 goals in less than 2½ minutes and won it on an Adam Henrique goal 8:34 into the third period.

Saad nearly tied it with 1:12 remaining, but John Gibson kicked his right leg out in time to keep his team ahead.

The Hawks (24-26-8) have lost eight straight. It's their longest losing streak since they dropped nine in a row during the 2011-12 season.

"Sometimes when it rains, it pours," Saad said. "It's kind of snowballing in the wrong direction. There are some games that could have bounced the other way - hit posts - stuff like that. But at the end of the day, it's a game of results, and we're not getting them right now."

And the reason is simple - the Hawks continue to do a poor job of managing the puck. To wit:

• Moments after Saad made it 2-0, Connor Murphy allowed a pass slip through him at the offensive blue line. Nick Ritchie took advantage, worked a give-and-go with Ondrej Kase and beat Anton Forsberg to make it 2-1.

• A couple of minutes later, the Hawks had Anaheim on its heels with a sensational shift that saw them possess the puck for 51 seconds in the offensive zone. Then one bad Michal Kempny pass turned into a breakaway by Kase, and just like that it was 2-2.

"We were doing everything right on that shift," Quenneville said. "To give up that type of a situation - it can't happen. We talk about puck management and what we do with the puck, that's a good illustration."

The Hawks had a chance to get the momentum back after Ryan Hartman obliterated Jakob Silfverberg with a clean open-ice hit late in the second period. Josh Manson immediately dropped his gloves and went after Hartman, drawing a double minor for roughing and putting the Hawks on the power play.

Hartman also was assessed a minor for roughing despite absorbing several punches from Manson and not taking his gloves off to engage.

"I had my head on a swivel, not trying to get hit by three guys," Hartman said. "Keep my gloves on. Trying not to get punched in the face, which I did twice.

"I don't know. I somehow got a roughing."

The Hawks' next chance to snap their skid comes when Washington comes to town Saturday.