Frustration level growing for Chicago Blackhawks

As frustrated as Jeremy Colliton was about falling to 0-2 as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks after a 4-0 loss Saturday in Philadelphia, he realizes there's a bigger issue at hand.

And that's the frustration level of a team that has been outscored 30-12 during a losing streak that has now reached seven games.

"(Keeping them positive) is a challenge right now because I just got here," Colliton told reporters. "This is only Game 2 for me, but they've been going through this now for a while.

"That's one thing that I have to manage, and that was the message after the game. 'Guys, we're not that far away. I know it feels like we are because of the score, but I don't think that was a 4-0 game.' "

As opposed to Colliton's first game - when Carolina took a 4-0 lead in less than 22 minutes Thursday - the Hawks (6-8-3) came out buzzing in Philly.

• Duncan Keith fed Alex DeBrincat for a good chance 43 seconds in.

• John Hayden created a turnover at 2:44 that led to multiple good looks.

• Jonathan Toews drove hard to the net and tried muscling a shot past goalie Brian Elliott at 3:42.

• Brent Seabrook took a pass from DeBrincat, made a nifty move around a Shayne Gostisbehere and ripped a shot that Elliott turned away at 10:42.

• Elliott then faced a barrage of shots in less than two minutes from Jan Rutta, Alexandre Fortin, David Kampf, Dominik Kahun and Erik Gustafsson.

At that point, the Hawks were totally controlling the action and outshooting the Flyers 11-3.

Then Duncan Keith made a gaffe that changed the entire complexion of the game. With two Flyers closing in, Keith grabbed the puck deep in the Flyers' zone and blindly sent the puck right to Claude Giroux, who easily beat Corey Crawford with a backhanded shot at 14:56.

"We played a really good first period there, and obviously I made a bad play turning it over and it ends up right back in our net," Keith said. "Mistakes are going to happen.

"I mean, I don't plan on making mistakes like that and I can be better in that regard. But when things start going downhill we've got to weather the storm a little bit."

Colliton, Crawford and Jonathan Toews all echoed Keith's thoughts. The Hawks simply cannot allow one goal to demoralize them.

"It shouldn't change the way you play," said Crawford, who made 21 saves. "You've got to play the same way the whole game whether we score or they score. We played well (and) had a great first period.

"They scored first, but so what? That's going to happen sometimes. You've got to keep going."

But they didn't.

The Flyers went up 2-0 at 9:12 of the second period on a goal by Sean Couturier that came just as a Hawks power play was ending. Couturier scored again early in the third, and Nolan Patrick added an empty-netter for a Philly team that is 5-0-1 in its last six games.

Elliott made 33 saves in recording the 38th shutout of his career.

"Whenever you put a donut up on the scoreboard you feel good, but I felt 'on' ", Elliott said. "I felt like I was seeing pucks and stuff was hitting me. That's all you can ask for as a goalie."

The Hawks have not won a regular-season game in Philadelphia since Nov. 9, 1996, going 0-14-1. They were without Brandon Saad, who suffered a leg injury Friday at practice.

"It's hard not to get frustrated," Keith said. "That's the biggest thing is staying positive, for myself especially. I can do a better job of that to help us get out of this losing streak."

They'd better end it soon, too, or the playoffs will be nothing but a pipe dream.

"These things are still in our control," Colliton said. "We can fix them. We've just got to hurry up."