Blackhawks, Preds open playoffs in Chicago

Hockey Betting Lines

04/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks are back in the playoffs and will kick off the postseason tonight when they host the Nashville Predators at United Center for Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

The Blackhawks are returning to the postseason for a second straight year after going five seasons in a row without an appearance. This marks the first time the club has reached back-to-back playoffs since the end of a 28-year run from 1970-97, and with a young core that consists of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Kris Versteeg, one has to think that Chicago is capable of putting together another long run of playoff showings.

Chicago, which made it to the Western Conference finals last spring, is coming off a regular season in which it set franchise records with 52 wins and 112 points, enough to give the Central Division residents their first division title of any kind since winning the Norris back in 1993.

Offense should be plentiful for Chicago, which marched to the conference finals last year before being ousted by Detroit. The Blackhawks finished third in the NHL with 262 goals, led by Kane's 30. Five other skaters reached at least 20 goals in this potent offense, including Toews (25), Patrick Sharp (25), Marian Hossa (24), Versteeg (20) and Troy Brouwer (22).

Hossa, a 31-year-old Slovakian, who has 31 goals and 45 assists in 98 playoff games, will try for his first championship after falling short in each of the last two seasons. Hossa is aiming to become the first player in NHL history to reach the Stanley Cup Finals in three straight years with three different teams, having lost with Pittsburgh (2008) and Detroit (2009) previously.

Antti Niemi will serve as the No. 1 goaltender after entering this season with just three NHL games on his resume. He went 26-7-4 with a 2.25 goals-against average and .912 save percentage in 39 games and started Chicago's final nine games, going 6-0-1 over the last seven. He has never started a postseason game, while Cristobal Huet is 6-10 with a 2.73 GAA in 16 career playoff contests.

"I've never been asked so many questions about our goaltender," Blackhawks captain Toews said about Niemi. "We're very confident that he'll do a great job, just like we are of everybody else in this locker room"

For all of their offense, the Blackhawks also finished in a tie for fifth in the league with 203 goals allowed. However, they'll be missing a big piece on their blueline due to Brian Campbell (7g, 31a) being out with a broken collarbone and a rib injury suffered on a hit in March versus Washington.

Kim Johnsson, acquired from Minnesota in mid-February for Cam Barker, is also out indefinitely due to concussion-like symptoms. He hasn't played since March 13 and is out indefinitely.

The loss of those two veterans puts the pressure squarely on Keith, who finished second on the club with 55 assists and 69 points while playing in all 82 games.

Like the Blackhawks, the Nashville Predators come into the postseason with a goaltender that has no playoff experience. The Preds, though, might be a little more confident in their man between the pipes.

Pekka Rinne has never before experienced postseason hockey, but that won't stop Nashville from sticking with the 27-year-old over Dan Ellis, who owns just six games of playoff experience.

Rinne and Ellis started the season in a platoon, but Rinne eventually emerged as the No. 1, going 32-16-5 with a 2.53 GAA and .911 save percentage in 58 games. He also finished tied for third in the league with seven shutouts and earned a two-year contract extension in late February.

Rinne will backstop a Nashville team that made it to the playoffs in four straight seasons before missing out last year. This series will also mark its first against a team other than Detroit or San Jose, who have combined to knock the Predators out of the quarterfinals in all four of their trips to the second season.

Nashville, which is coming off its first 100-point season since 2006-07, will have to slow down a tough Blackhawks offense, but might be one of the rare teams up to the task. The Predators win with defense, allowing 221 goals on the season (14th in the NHL) while netting just 217 (18th).

In fact, a bulk of Nashville's offense actually comes from the blueline. Shea Weber was sixth on the team with 43 points off 16 goals and 27 assists, while Ryan Suter finished with 33 assists and 37 points. Weber, though, has been limited to only nine points in 15 playoff games.

Nashville will hope to have Denis Grebeshkov back for this series from a groin injury that has sidelined him since March 7. He is questionable for the series opener.

Forward Patric Hornqvist should be ready to go despite an upper-body injury that caused him to miss Nashville's last regular-season game. Better known for being the final pick of the 2005 draft, Hornqvist led Nashville with 30 goals and was the only Predator to top 20 goals other than Martin Erat (21).

The rest of Nashville's offense was spread out among Steve Sullivan (17g, 34a), captain Jason Arnott (19g, 27a), J.P. Dumont (17g, 28a) and David Legwand (11g, 27a).

These two Central Division rivals haven't met since Dec. 27, when the Blackhawks posted a 5-4 home win to win the season series 4-2. Chicago won twice at home in the series and twice in Nashville.

Game 2 of this series is set for Sunday night in Chicago.

The Blackhawks were 29-8-4 as the host this year. Nashville, which has never won a road playoff game, was 23-15-3 as the visiting team during the regular season.