Versteeg, Byfuglien return in Hawks' preseason finale

While it might have a breakout season for Kris Versteeg in 2008-09, the Blackhawks winger was far from satisfied.

Versteeg had 22 goals and 53 points and was named one of the three finalists for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, but he believes his best is yet to come.

"People think it was a great season; I don't look at it like that," Versteeg said. "I look at it as a successful season, but I know I can do better. I know I can bring a lot more to the table in consistency and in other areas."

Versteeg's preseason hasn't gotten off to the best of starts. He suffered an upper-body injury in the exhibition opener against Washington and finally was cleared to play Tuesday, when the Hawks lost 2-1 to the Zurich Lions in their final tuneup for Friday's opener.

The Hawks had 36 shots on Zurich goalie Ari Sulander, but it was clear the competition was better than in Monday's 9-2 win over HC Davos.

"We probably thought it would be like (Monday), and we probably tried to make too many fancy plays early in the game," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville told reporters. "Those guys had a real purpose in their team game."

Cam Barker scored the only goal as the Hawks closed the preseason at 2-3-1.

"They're champions of their league for a reason," Patrick Sharp told chicagoblackhawks.com. "They played a little bit better team game than we did. It was clear they wanted it more than we did."

As for Versteeg, his flashy moves made him an instant crowd favorite, but it's his goal to be a more consistent scorer and all-around player.

"I always know I have more," Versteeg said. "It's not a secret to me or people that know me."

Versteeg was a very good minor-league player before finally getting his chance last season with the Hawks to play a regular role.

"I guess to the hockey world who only really saw me last season, it was a bit of a surprise, but there's a lot of guys down there in the minors that don't get chances and I believe could probably do the same thing," Versteeg said. "It's a matter of being in a good situation at a good time.

"I guess I played as well as I could at times, but there were other times I wasn't as consistent as I liked to have been. That comes with a lot of years in the NHL and learning from older guys."

Hawks goalie Cristobal Huet stopped 20 of 22 shots in Tuesday's loss. Zurich got the winning goal from Lukas Grauwiler midway through the second period.

Not only did Versteeg return from his injury, Dustin Byfuglien (groin) played for the first time in more than a week. Both players are expected to be ready for Friday's season opener against the Florida Panthers in Helsinki, Finland.

"I don't think we ever underestimated them," Patrick Kane said after Tuesday's loss. "If you watched the whole game we pretty much controlled the play the whole time and didn't really finish our chances.

"We've got bigger and better things ahead of us with the start of the regular season. Now we've got to gear up for Florida."