Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues hit the ice at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis for Game 5 of their Round 1 best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs series. The game can be live streamed for free here. Chicago fans can hear all of the action on 720 WGN while St. Louis fans can do the same on KMOX 1120.
Chicago looks to win this road game and come home with a chance to clinch at The United Center while St. Louis will hope to shake off their two-game skid and win their third straight game at home in the series.
The Blues took Games 1 and 2 in St. Louis with two 4-3 overtime victories while the Blackhawks roared back in Chicago, notching a 2-0 triumph in Game 3 and a 4-3 overtime win in Game 4.
The Blackhawks hope that history will be on their side as they came back from a 3-1 series deficit to defeat the Detroit Red Wings in last year's first round en route to a Stanley Cup victory. One problem for Chicago is that it hasn't won in the Blues building in its last five games.
We know this team loves to play in their home building," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said Thursday per NHL.com.. "They're a really tough team to play when they're at home with their own crowd. So we'll be prepared for that."
Toews has paced the Blackhawks with five points in the series off of one goal and four assists while Patrick Kane has a team-high three tallies along with one helper for four points. Brandon Saad also has four points off of four assists.
Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook (0-4--4) will sit out his final game after being suspended three games for his illegal hit to Blues center David Backes. Backes missed both games in Chicago but skated on Thursday and the team hopes he will return for Game 5.
The Blues are hoping to bounce back from a tough two-game trip in Chicago and to silence the murmurs that they might blow a 2-0 lead for the second straight time after they topped the Los Angeles Kings through the first two contests of the first round last year and lost four straight to lose the series.
"We knew going there [to United Center] that it was going to be tough," defenseman Jay Bouwmeester told NHL.com. "It's not the easiest place to play. We still have home ice, we had a couple close games. It's not been one-sided games or anything like that. You just keep going. It's a three-game series now and that's the way you approach it."
The Blues have been paced in points by Kevin Shattenkirk, who has five off of a goal and four assists while Vladimir Tarasenko has four points off of an NHL playoffs-best four tallies. Chris Porter (one goal, two assists) and Vladimir Sobotka (three helpers) each have three points in the series.
Ryan Miller will suit up in net for St. Louis after yielding 11 goals and stopping 117 shots through the first four games while Corey Crawford will man the crease for Chicago after he has also allowed 11 goals on 150 shots.
The Blackhawks and Blues each look to take control of their best-of-seven playoff series when the lights come up on Game 5 tonight at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
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