Blackhawks dominate Panthers but still fall

North America or Europe, this was an opener the Blackhawks should have won.

Despite outshooting the Florida Panthers 55-24 and taking three 1-goal leads, the Hawks wound up losing 4-3 in a shootout Friday in their season opener in Helsinki, Finland.

A turnover by defenseman Brent Seabrook led to David Booth's tying goal with 2:21 left in regulation, a snap shot from inside the left circle over the glove of Hawks goalie Cristobal Huet.

Patrick Sharp had given the Hawks their third lead of the game when he scored off a scramble with 8:25 to play.

"This leaves a sour taste," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville told reporters. "That was one of our strengths last year, that we were able to close teams out and find a way to win."

Huet played well in a scoreless first period, but in the end he wasn't nearly as sharp as Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun, who made 54 saves including key stops on Patrick Kane and Sharp in the shootout.

Jonathan Toews scored to open the shootout before Kane and Sharp failed. Huet was beaten by Steven Reinprecht and Ville Koistinen on the only two attempts he faced.

The Hawks dominated the second and third periods only to be frustrated by Vokoun.

"The last two periods, I thought we took it to them and just had a couple breakdowns there that kind of cost us," said Kane, who had a goal and assist in the loss. "It would have been nice to come out with 2 points, but it's the first game of the season and you can learn some different things from this and move forward. We're going to get better."

Kane opened the scoring in the second period when he beat Vokoun on a breakaway after coming out of the penalty box and taking a pass from Niklas Hjalmarsson.

It was 1-1 going to the third period when Dustin Byfuglien scored on a rebound at 3:52 after a shot by Kane had hit the crossbar and dropped into the crease.

But the Panthers tied it again on a goal by Koistinen.

Sharp's goal came after Kris Versteeg made a nice play in front of the net keeping the puck alive while surrounded by three defenders.

It looked as if the Hawks would win the game in regulation, but Seabrook's clearing try along the boards was picked off by Booth and turned into a goal.

"We did some good things offensively and had a lot of chances to put that game away," Toews told reporters. "We let them creep back into the game and hang around. We made some little mistakes and it's a different game."

The Hawks had the best chance in overtime when Toews sent Sharp in on Vokoun, who turned away the attempt with his pad.

Byfuglien started the game on the top line with Toews and Kane, but Quenneville switched centers Toews and Dave Bolland to start the second.

"We weren't happy with the way we started the game," Quenneville said.

"You never know when he is going to change something to try to create some chemistry," Toews said. "It seemed to work tonight. All four of our lines had opportunities."