ESPN Pierre LeBrun Blog

HELSINKI -- I ran into legendary coach Scotty Bowman after tonight's game and asked him whether he could remember ever losing a game with 55 shots on goal in his storied career.

He thought perhaps it was possible, but couldn't remember offhand. Let's put it this way: It's rare.

"We got to find a way to win those games," said Blackhawks blueliner Brian Campbell, who had an assist in tonight's 4-3 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers. "I don't feel like a game like that should have gone to a shootout."

You hate to lose your season opener, but there's not much the Blackhawks should feel bad about on a night when they generated 20 scoring chances.

"We did some good things offensively," said Hawks captain Jonathan Toews, who scored in the shootout. "We had a lot of chances to put the game away. Even defensively, we were good for the most part. Unfortunately, we let them creep back into the game and hang around. And when you get to the shootout, you never know what can happen. You could argue we deserved to squeak that one out. It's a tough one. But we'll take the point, build off it and have a better effort tomorrow night."

If they put up 50-plus shots again Saturday, I'd bet the house the final result will be different. They were draped all over Tomas Vokoun's goal crease Friday.

"We were just trying to get pucks through," Toews said. "We had a few chances whacking away at it. A couple of them went in. We'll keep doing that and hopefully pop a few more in tomorrow and hopefully spread the game [lead] out a bit more so we're not fighting to protect a one-goal lead in the third period. It's unfortunate we let them back in it tonight."

Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist but was also thwarted on a couple of other golden chances by Vokoun.

"He's a different goalie that guy," Kane said. "He stands up in his net; some of the shots, it's really weird how he takes them. But he's really good; he's a really good goalie. But we put pucks on the net and that's what we want to do; get a lot of shots. Usually that wears down the other team's goalie. There's a lot to build off for the first game of the season. I thought we played pretty well, and that's probably evident by 55 shots."

Lots of shots, but not enough finish, and that's what coach Joel Quenneville hopes to see more of Saturday.

"There were a lot of loose pucks in the last part of the game and we couldn't get a handle on it," Quenneville said. "There were some dangerous scrambles where we couldn't get the puck on our stick. He made a couple of key saves. Looks like Kaner had a couple of great chances, and [Vokoun] looked quick moving. He played very well."

The Hawks began to really pressure the Panthers offensively once Quenneville switched up his top two forward lines. He took Toews off the top line between Kane and Dustin Byfuglien and moved him to the second unit between Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg. Dave Bolland replaced Toews on the top line.

"We talk about starts, and we weren't happy with the way we began the game," Quenneville said. "Sometimes you flip-flop lines and it can work, although sometimes you never know. We were trying some things, and I didn't mind the way it played out."

The Kane/Toews duo was a fairly consistent sight last season, but for this night, at least, they were split up.

"[Quenneville] kept most of the lines together last year, but again, it's one of those things you have to be ready for," Toews said. "You never know if he thinks a change will create some chemistry and it seemed to work tonight. I think all four of our lines had opportunities. Hopefully we just draw a few more penalties and be a bit more effective on the power play tomorrow night."

Atmosphere
Despite the loss, Quenneville could appreciate the energetic atmosphere at Hartwall Arena in the NHL's first regular-season game in Finland.

"The building was great," Quenneville said. "They had some excitement; they were cheering. They had some appreciation for the play. I thought the pace of the game was fast. For a first game, I thought both teams had some energy. The puck was moving around the ice. Good response from the crowd, and it was fun to be part of it."

Shootout win
The Panthers were among the worst teams in the NHL last season at the shootout, winning only three of 11, and that was largely to blame for them missing the playoffs by a hair.

So, yes, winning their first shootout in their first attempt was huge, if not more mentally than anything else. It's also noteworthy to see the two first players to shoot for Florida, Steve Reinprecht and Ville Koistinen, two newcomers with a history of shootout success.

On Monday night in Tampere, the Panthers lost their preseason game in a shootout and privately wondered whether they were in for another season of misery in the skill event.

"The coaching staff was going 'Oh, no, here we go again,'" Panthers coach Peter DeBoer said, laughing.

A key timeout
I thought DeBoer made a smart call midway through the middle period when he called a timeout as his team was running around too much and his fourth line was stuck on the ice for another faceoff after icing the puck. The Panthers looked a little more organized after the timeout and tied the game just more than three minutes later.

"We just wanted to regain our composure," DeBoer said. "We weren't playing well, weren't sticking to the game plan. You feel fortunate because they are a very good team, and you can see what they can do offensively."

A look at the lines
The flu bug that ran through the Panthers' dressing room seems to have come and gone. Stephen Weiss, Keith Ballard, Bryan Allen and Jordan Leopold were all able to play after missing practice Thursday with the flu. Weiss was also battling a groin problem. The lines and defense combinations from Friday's games, taking into account the second-period changes that Quenneville made with Toews:

FLORIDA:
Forwards:
Booth-Weiss-Horton
Stillman-Reinprecht-Frolik
Olesz-Campbell-Dvorak
Matthias-Kreps-Koistinen

Defense:
McCabe-Leopold
Ballard-Seidenberg
Allen-Kulikov

CHICAGO:
Forwards:
Kane-Bolland-Byfuglien
Versteeg-Toews-Sharp
Ladd-Madden-Brouwer
Eager-Fraser-Kopecky

Defense:
Keith-Seabrook
Campbell-Hjalmarsson
Barker-Sopel

A nice touch
It was a technically a home game for the Hawks, so why not give it a United Center feeling? As such, the sellout crowd at Hartwall Arena was treated to the classic and stirring rendition of the U.S. anthem from Jim Cornelison -- on tape, of course -- with Frank Pellico on the organ. The Blackhawks fans on hand here cheered through the anthem just like at home, but the locals were quiet. Wasn't quite the same, but still a nice touch. So was having former Finnish hockey star Jari Kurri ("Gretzky to Kurri … he scores!") drop the puck for the ceremonial faceoff.

The Chicago bid
Blackhawks players were asking PR staff and media alike after the game what had happened with the 2016 Olympic bid. They were certainly not happy to hear Chicago lost out to Rio.

"I was wondering what was going on," Kane said. "It would have been nice to have them in Chicago. It would have been fun to visit those Games. I'm a big basketball fan, so it would have been fun to visit the Summer Olympic Games and see those stars come in and play. Hopefully, maybe next time, and we'll see what happens if they put another bid up. But I thought Chicago would have been a perfect place for it."

Media coverage
A note on the NHL beat coverage here. The big-market Blackhawks have only one beat writer here, veteran Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun-Times, while the small-market Florida Panthers have two of their finest here, Big Daddy George Richards of the Miami Herald and Steve Gorten of the Sun-Sentinel. I'm also told Chicago Tribune beat writer Chris Kuc likely would have been here, but he just became a proud papa. Congrats to Chris!