NHL Hockey Betting: Chicago Blackhawks at St. Louis Blues

Even without any Canadian teams involved, there’s nothing better than the Stanley Cup playoffs. Just compare it to the NBA playoffs–also going on the right. No contest. And this seven game war is just a *first round series*. The Chicago Blackhawks have battled back from a 3-1 deficit to the St. Louis Blues, won Game Five in double overtime and fought back from a 3-1 deficit in Game Six. Now here they are heading into a Game Seven on the Blues’ home ice.

St. Louis’ excellent regular season in which they were in a tight battle down the stretch for the Western Conference title with the Dallas Stars has become a potential nightmare. The Blues have a dubious history of premature playoff exits, most recently last year when the Minnesota Wild sent them packing in the first round. In many ways, this is an even worse situation for St. Louis. This year they’re not in against an upstart team looking for the upset, but a championship team full of cold blooded killers. Think the Blackhawks are nervous about a Game Seven situation? Three Stanley Cups in the past six years says they’re not. This is what this team does and St. Louis knew this. That’s why the nerves started to grow when it became apparent that Chicago wasn’t going to ‘roll over’ and was determined to fight back.

In all honesty, the Blues haven’t played especially well during this series. One huge issue has been on defense where they’ve allowed Chicago to take over 35 shots on goal in five of the previous six games. The thinking was apparently that Brian Elliott was going to continue his unreal form of the late regular season and stop all of these shots. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way–Elliott started to wear down and the result is what we have here tonight: one game to determine who advances and who goes home. Which team do you think will play ‘looser’ hockey? Which team do you think will be playing ‘not to lose’ and afraid to make any mistakes? Which team has a reputation for early playoff exits? And which team has won three of the last six Stanley Cups? Answer these questions and the handicap for this game is obvious.

BET CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS +120 OVER ST. LOUIS BLUES