NHL betting has just one game on the schedule Tuesday night with the Vancouver Canucks hosting the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference semifinals. Here's an inside look at this lone matchup:
Chicago Blackhawks at Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks dodged the Blackhawks' knockout punch and countered with an impressive 4-1 victory in Game 5 on Sunday. That win makes the series 3-2 in favor of Chicago heading to GM Place for Game 6 on Tuesday night.
That might not be what the Canucks want to hear since the visiting team has won four of the five games in this series. The Blackhawks felt right at home on the west coast, defeating Vancouver 5-2 in Game 3 and 7-4 in Game 4. They beat up on the Canucks with their physical style and hounded Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo.
The Canucks looked frustrated in those two losses, getting suckered into careless penalties. Vancouver totaled 52 minutes in the box over those two contests and gave up six goals – four in Game 4 – while being a man down. The Canucks played a more disciplined game Sunday, taking only five penalties and shutting down Chicago's potent power-play attack.
If Vancouver is going to repeat that solid defensive performance it may have to do it without Sami Salo. The defenseman suffered what was being reported as a testicular injury after getting hit by a shot in the first period of Game 5. His status for Game 6 is up in the air, leaving the Canucks to insert Nolan Baumgartner or Lawrence Nycholat if Salo can’t play.
The Blackhawks’ defense needs to do a better job of stopping shots from the points as well as clearing rebounds for goaltender Antti Niemi. He allowed three goals on 23 shots – all of which came from the Canucks’ defensemen. He hasn't looked exceptionally sharp in the past two games, allowing seven goals on 53 shots. Niemi has a 2.72 goals-against average with a .904 save percentage in the postseason to go along with a 5-4-2 over/under record.
