The Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues will open their western conference first round NHL playoffs series on Thursday and the defending Stanley Cup champions come in as the lower seed and the matchup starts up at 8 pm ET from the Scottrade Center and has TV coverage from the NBC Sports Network and a live stream from the NBCSN Live Extra website.
The Blues come in after besting the Blackhawks in the division and that means they have home ice for this series and the two have been battling all season in the central only to see Colorado swoop in and get the division title. These teams now play as the second and third teams in the division over the wild cards and the goalie matchup should be a good one, as Ryan Miller and Corey Crawford will be going head to head and that makes for one of the best matchups in all the playoffs.
The Blackhawks have been dealing with injuries all season, but they finally will get some of their best players back on Thursday night when the playoffs begin, as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews return to the lineup after being out for a while. Patrick Sharp ended up leading the team in scoring and he had 34 goals and 78 points on the season and now those three players will be huge for the Blackhawks as they try to win a third Cup in the last few years and their second in a row, which has not been done in a while. Crawford has had another great season and he will be looking to have a good game against Miller, who was traded earlier in the year to the Blues from Buffalo.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock has praised Miller for his play over the past couple months and he could be key to a run for the Blues as this matchup of teams with over 100 points this season gets underway. Kane will be rusty after not playing since March and he could be a bit hobbled, while Toews returns after being out for the last six games after taking a big hit and he appears ready to get back on the ice and to make an impact for the Hawks. The Blues dealt with a six game losing streak and they have the chance to bounce back as the playoffs begin with Game 1.
The Blackhawks come into the game at second in the league in scoring and they were 12th in goals against and they come into the postseason in the top 10 in power play percentage as well. The Blues and Blackhawks matchup should be one of the best of the postseason with the way the two teams played each other this year.
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