Breaking down the Chicago Blackhawks loss to Florida Panthers in season opener

The bigger picture is the fact that the Blackhawks put up a fight and gave the Panthers a run for their money, only losing by one goal, and that's also the view they're going to take from this game, and it should be.

Frank Nazar, fresh off signing a bargain of a seven-year extension (including this one), lived up to the hype and then some.

Nazar got the season going and scored the first NHL goal of the year on an assist from Tyler Bertuzzi and assisted Teuvo Teravainen on his goal, ending in a two-point night for the 21-year-old.

It wasn't a placid night for Spencer Knight. Knight stood on his head once again, picking up from where he left off at the end of last season, and will probably have to save about 35-40 shots per game. He saved multiple A++ chances and made a few ten-bell sliding saves. One of the biggest complaints about Knight last year was his glove side. Last night, his glove got a workout, but it was on point throughout the whole game. A really good performance.

Connor Bedard also looked incredible. Within the first couple minutes of the game, he had a burst up the right wall and ripped one off the crossbar.

He also made Seth Jones look like a goof with a beautiful cross-over (must've felt good Blackhawks fans certainly enjoyed it), and just overall looks faster and stronger. Some other honorable mentions are Teravainen, Ryan Greene, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Wyatt Kaiser-they all were phenomenal as well.

However, with some positive things to build off of, there's a lot of room for work as well.

In the defensive end, no one can clear the puck. Like the first preseason game in Detroit, the goal is to just throw it around the boards or near them and hope someone's there and it gets out. That's never going to work.

The Hawks couldn't break it out all night, and it led to Knight having to make some desperate saves.

The defensive pairing of Rinzel and Grzelcyk were on the same side of the ice and always on top of one another the whole night, which led to the slot being wide open.

The Panthers eventually found the slot and had a huge chance in the second period.

The two failed to discourse throughout the game. Rinzel was also out there for two out of the three goals scored.

Artyom Levshunov had a horrendous first period as well. Levshunov turned the puck over in the neutral zone, lost it at the blue line, and had more blunders while going to the penalty box twice and Florida capitalizing and scoring on the second power play. He looked scared.

He settled in a little bit in the second period but was still running into Kaiser a lot. He's only 19, though, and it's still way too early for the Ivan Demidov conversations-give him time.

The only time the Blackhawks really got any good looks was on fast rushes or breakaways.

They weren't able to break it out of their own zone, for one thing. But even when they did, it was rare to see them actually set up in the zone and get some solid chances on net.

Overall, it was a good effort from the boys. Rough first period, turned it around a bit in the second, but then panicked and went back to old habits in the third.

All of that are growing pains, and it'll hopefully get better as the year goes on, as this year is all about developing the young players for the future.