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Raanta: It’s easy to be a goalie on this team

Antti Raanta played for some pretty good teams in Finland, winning a championship last season with Assat Pori.

But none of them compare to the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks.

Playing behind an offense that can explode at any time, Raanta was the beneficiary of a 5-goal second period Wednesday as the Hawks crushed the Philadelphia Flyers 7-2 at the United Center.

It was the third win in a row for the Hawks and Raanta — who is 5-0-1 for the season.

On Tuesday, the Hawks scored 4 goals in the second period for Raanta in a 6-2 win at Dallas.

“It’s easy to be a goalie on this team,” Raanta said. “Of course, you have to keep focused all the time and not let in any easy goals.”

Seven different goal scorers contributed to the victory. Patrick Sharp had a goal and 2 assists while Marian Hossa had 3 assists.

Duncan Keith, Andrew Shaw, Michal Handzus, Kris Versteeg, Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook also scored for the Hawks.

“We know we have an offensive team with a lot of guys, a lot of forwards, that can put the puck in the net,” Keith said. “I don’t think us being in a slump would last very long.

“I’m not saying we’re going to score 5, 6, 7 goals every game, but we always know if we work hard and play the right way we’re going to get our chances.”

The Hawks scored 2 more power-play goals 39 seconds apart in the second period to erase a 1-0 deficit.

After Jakub Voracek scored the only goal of the first period, the Hawks tallied on their first 3 shots in the second to go ahead 3-1.

Keith’s power-play goal through a Shaw screen 43 seconds into the period tied the game. Patrick Kane also assisted, giving him points in 19 of the last 20 games.

Kane later added another assist and is just 1 point behind Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby for the NHL scoring lead.

Just 39 seconds after Keith’s goal, Shaw beat Ray Emery on a wraparound to put the Hawks ahead to stay.

Handzus scored short-handed at 5:27 to give the Hawks a 2-goal lead, but the Flyers came right back and got a power-play goal from Steve Downie at 6:11 to cut the deficit to 1.

Versteeg scored on a feed from Brandon Saad at 9:44 to make it 4-2 with Toews getting his 13th goal at 14:15, and the rout was on.

“They’ve gone in the last few games,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “The start to the second was what we were looking for. It was a great second period for us and it kind of went from there.”

Seabrook scored his third goal of the season 1:05 into the third period, chasing Emery. Seabrook broke his stick as he shot and was left holding two pieces in his hands as the puck deflected off Downie and past Emery.

“We go into the second with the lead and, just kind of a funny one, I’ve got to make a save and pucks are kind of bouncing around a bit,” Emery said. “But you can’t make excuses. As a whole we’ve got to play better in the second.”

Raanta finished with 28 saves, including stops on back-to-back short-handed breakaways in the third period by Brayden Schenn and Michael Raffl.

“Of course, I was thinking we’re on the power play so I probably wouldn’t get any shots there, but those were a couple wide-open breakaways,” Raanta said. “It was good to get those saves and get a little emotion going. It was pretty nice to see the crowd standing and yelling.”

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

Shaw’s screens spice up Blackhawks’ power play

The Hawks’ Michal Handzus, back, beats former teammate Ray Emery after taking a pass from Marcus Kruger, left. Associated Press
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