The Chicago Blackhawks started the season off with a 36-16-4 record, but tailed off in the second half with an 11-10-5 record over their final 26 games. The Blackhawks will try to find their championship form this Wednesday on the road against the St. Louis Blues.
Blackhawks vs. Blues 2016 NHL playoff odds: Hawks begin title defense as underdogs
The Chicago Blackhawks start their Stanley Cup title defense Wednesday night against the St. Louis Blues as small road underdogs.
Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago is a small +105 betting underdog in Wednesday night’s series opener at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. St. Louis is a slight favorite to win the series and is going off at -125 to win Game 1.
Help is on the way for the recently struggling Chicago Blackhawks as Marian Hossa, Artem Anisimov and Andrew Shaw are all expected to return for Game 1 after missing time with injuries at the end of the season.
The Blackhawks will be without one of their playoff staples in Game 1 however as veteran defenseman Duncan Keith is still out serving a suspension he picked up at the end of the season. Chicago is 6-3 in its last nine playoff road games.
The Blackhawks have had some regular season struggles against the St. Louis Blues in recent seasons with a 6-10 SU record in their last 16 games against them per the OddsShark NHL Database. When these two teams met in the playoffs in 2014, however, the Blackhawks erased an 0-2 series deficit to beat the Blues in six games.
The Blues finished with the third best record in hockey this season, ending the year with 107 points and a 49-24-9 record. This was the fifth straight season that the Blues finished in the top six in the NHL in both goals against and points, making them one of the league’s most consistent winners over that stretch.
But the Blues haven’t transitioned regular season success into playoff success, losing each of their last four playoff series with a 6-16 record over that run.
Wednesday’s total is currently set at five goals. The OVER was 4-1-1 in the 2014 playoff series between the Blues and Blackhawks.
St. Louis finished with a better regular season record than the Blackhawks and won the season series three games to two. But the playoffs are an entirely different season, and now the Blues are tasked with facing a team that has won the Stanley Cup three times in the last six years.
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