8* play on St. Louis Blues.

We like the hungry Blues to defend their home ice in the opener of this Western Conference playoff series. St. Louis comes into the postseason at 100% health across the board. The Blues would take three of the five in the season series from the Blackhawks. After getting eliminated in the first round in three straight years, expect a monumental effort from the home side tonight. Chicago comes into the playoffs down Duncan Keith, who has to finish a six-game suspension for high-sticking Minnesota's Charlie Coyle. Blues' netminder Brian Elliot would post three consecutive shutouts in mid-March. Hawks goaltender Corey Crawrod posted a 1.98 GAA and .935 save percentage in beating St. Louis in the 2014 NHL playoffs, but he missed an entire month with an upper body injury to finish the season, returning for the the last regular season game of the year. At almost a "pick-em," ST. LOUIS is the savvy move in this one.

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