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Crawford injured in Blackhawks' victory

The Blackhawks might be struggling on the penalty kill, but there was nothing wrong with the power play Sunday night.

Scoring 2 power-play goals in the first 10 minutes and 3 for the game, the Hawks rode the quick start to a 6-2 win over the Florida Panthers at the United Center to end a three-game losing streak.

The victory was tempered, however, by an injury to goalie Corey Crawford in the first period.

Crawford suffered what appeared to be a right-leg injury at 13:28 of the opening period while kicking away a shot by Marcel Goc from in the slot. The game wasn't stopped until Crawford asked for time himself at 13:45 because he couldn't get up.

“I don't think it's too serious,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “But when it's a goalie it's a little more serious than other players because of how important he is to our team.

“You're concerned, but we'll have a better assessment (Monday).”

Antti Raanta came on in relief and made 29 saves to earn his third win. The Hawks got a scare midway through the third period when Raanta was run over by Jimmy Hayes and shaken up. Raanta was able to continue, however.

So what would the Hawks have done if Raanta couldn't stay in the game?

“We were scrambling on the bench,” Patrick Sharp said. “You didn't want to laugh because you didn't know how serious Antti was. I quickly turned around and asked Jamie Kompon, our assistant coach, who's going to put the pads on, and (Andrew) Shawzie volunteered, obviously.

“I'm not going to go in there. I'd be the last guy to go in there.”

Raanta was solid the rest of the way, although his giveaway did lead to a goal by Goc in the second period that brought the Panthers within 3-2.

“Usually if a goalie is down it's something really, really bad wrong,” Raanta said. “Of course it's a bad feeling, but I just tried to get my mind in the game and tried to focus to do the right things.”

If Crawford is out for any length of time, Raanta is ready to assume the No. 1 workload. “That's the job I came here to do,” he said.

Not only did the Hawks score 3 power-play goals in three opportunities, the penalty killers had a perfect night as well, going 5-for-5 in kills.

“It was a good night,” Quenneville said. “Let's talk about the positives and the PK. It was one of those zero nights, and hopefully we can start trending in the other direction.”

Shaw made his presence felt immediately in his return to the lineup with a goal and a well-placed screen on Sharp's power-play goal that opened the scoring at 1:10 of the first period.

“He does a great job at that,” Sharp said. “The first one there, it wasn't really a hard shot, but Shawzie does a great job of taking away the goalie's eyes.”

Patrick Kane got the secondary assist on Sharp's goal, giving him points in 18 of the last 19 games. Kane finished with 3 assists.

Brent Seabrook made it 2-0 at 9:11 on another power play when he blew a slap shot past goalie Scott Clemmensen from inside the right circle.

It was 3-0 when the Panthers began a comeback against Raanta on goals by Dylan Olsen and Goc, but the Hawks regained total control on goals by Michal Handzus late in the second period and Shaw early in the third. Brandon Saad finished the scoring with a goal in the final minute.

ŸFollow Tim's hockey reports on Twitter @TimSassone and check out his Between the Circles blog at dailyherald.com.

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