Hawks pleased with strong showing in season openers

You can be sure the Blackhawks had a better plane ride home from Europe than Mayor Daley.

The Hawks returned home more than pleased with taking 3 out of 4 points in games with the Florida Panthers in Finland.

They'll pick up their schedule Thursday in Detroit, where a victory over the Red Wings would put them 5 points up on their Central Division rivals.

There were a lot of good things in the two games against Florida, particularly offensively. The Hawks had 55 shots on goal in Friday's shootout loss and they were dominating again in Saturday's 4-0 win.

"You look over the two games and I thought we had the puck a lot and had good puck possession," coach Joel Quenneville said after Saturday's win. "We had guys that were dangerous both nights.

"We've got a lot of guys than can make plays. When you look at the four lines they're all capable of scoring and making plays."

Patrick Kane had a strong training camp and picked it right up in the regular season with 2 goals and 2 assists against the Panthers. Dustin Byfuglien and Patrick Sharp also scored goals in each game.

Byfuglien, so strong in the playoffs last spring around the net, was in the middle of things against the Panthers. Not only did he score twice, it was his screen that bothered goalie Tomas Vokoun on Brian Campbell's first period power-play goal on Saturday.

Byfuglien came to camp in top shape thanks to the invitation he received to participate in the U.S. Olympic camp in August.

"I had to get going a little bit earlier with the U.S. camp this summer," Byfuglien told chicagoblackhawks.com. "I just started earlier and kept going. I came to camp in great shape and feel good about my game."

The Hawks have an interesting stretch of games ahead.

After playing in Detroit on Thursday, they'll have their home opener Saturday at the United Center against a young Colorado Avalanche team off to a 2-0 start thanks to wins over San Jose and Vancouver.

Next week, the Hawks host Calgary in a playoff rematch before facing Edmonton and former teammate Nikolai Khabibulin. Khabibulin had a tough debut with the Oilers on Saturday night when he misplayed the puck with the game tied 3-3 and allowed Calgary's David Moss to score the winning goal in the final minute.

• As expected, goalie Corey Crawford was assigned to Rockford of the American Hockey League on Saturday.