Versteeg, Kane help Hawks beat St. Louis 4-1

With the way things have been going lately, you knew it was only a matter of time before the usual suspects kicked it in for the Blackhawks on Wednesday at the United Center.

And when they did, a 1-1 tie with St. Louis turned into a laugher within a six-minute span to begin the third period, as the Hawks rolled to a 4-1 victory.

Those suspects were none other than the red-hot Kris Versteeg and Patrick Kane.

"It's probably our biggest rivalry right now," Kane said before the game. "It seems like the fans, the players and everyone gets excited about this matchup. Should be rockin' tonight."

It was.

Versteeg, who was named the game's No. 1 star, put the Hawks ahead for good when he took a feed between the circles from Jonathan Toews and blasted one past Jake Allen for his eighth goal of the season 59 seconds into the third.

Less than two minutes later it was Versteeg connecting with Kane, who beat Allen from the right circle to make it 3-1.

Kane closed out the show with an unassisted goal - his 12th of the season - in which he somehow found a an opening and beat a sprawling Allen to put things out of reach.

Antti Raanta, starting for the first time since Oct. 25, picked up his second victory of the season.