Thursday, April 17, 8:00 PM on NBCS, CBC, CSNC, FSMW

Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri

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The No. 2 seed St. Louis Blues will be hoping to overcome their injury woes when they take on the No. 3 seed and defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Neither team is very satisfied with their seasons after starting off as two of the favorites in the West, but they both have enough talent to go deep in the playoffs.

In the regular season series between these two teams, the Blues were able to win three of the five games. However, two of the Blues' wins were overtime victories and Chicago was able to win the last two meetings. In their last game against each other on April 6, the Blackhawks were able to pull off the 4-2 win after scoring four of the game's last five goals.

The Blues have a deep team, but they will be without three of their top players going into the series: T.J. Oshie, David Backes and Patrik Berglund. Talented young right wing Vladimir Tarasenko is also expected to miss at least a game or two of this series with a hand injury.

There were questions over whether Chicago's top players Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews would be able to play in Game 1, but the team says that they have been skating and should be good to go. Patrick Sharp is the player to watch out for on Chicago as he finished with a team-high 34 goals and 78 points.

ATS Trends

Chicago is 19-22 straight up on the road this season

Chicago is 21-20-0 against the over/under on the road this season

St Louis is 28-12 straight up at home this season

St Louis is 21-18-2 against the over/under at home this season

Injuries to Watch

Chicago

11/16/13 GO Nikolai Khabibulin Rotator Cuff out 4-5 months
11/05/13 C Brad Mills Ankle out indefinitely
04/12/14 C Jonathan Toews Upper Body probable Thursday vs. St. Louis
04/12/14 RW Patrick Kane Knee probable Thursday vs. St. Louis

St Louis

04/15/14 C Patrik Berglund Shoulder is downgraded to expected to miss Thursday vs. Chicago
04/13/14 LW Brenden Morrow Foot probable Thursday vs. Chicago
04/13/14 C David Backes Foot probable Thursday vs. Chicago
04/13/14 RW T.J Oshie Concussion probable Thursday vs. Chicago
04/13/14 LW Vladimir Sobotka Lower Body questionable Thursday vs. Chicago
03/16/14 RW Vladimir Tarasenko Hand out indefinitely
01/16/14 RW Jamie Langenbrunner None has retired

Tony's Pick: Take Chicago

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