Vancouver face elimination on the road.

The Chicago Blackhawks can return to the Western Conference finals with a win tonight over the Vancouver Canucks as game 5 of their best of 7 series takes place from the United Center at 8pm ET.

Vancouver have to win tonight to stay alive in the post-season although the betting odds with Players Only imply that it will be Chicago that wins:

Vancouver to win: +155
Chicago to win: -175
Over/under set at 6 goals

Vancouver fans have to be wondering what happened to the team that stormed out in game 1 and beat Chicago 5-1 from the Windy City.  Vancouver were all over the 'hawks in the early part of this series and they even held a 2-0 lead over Chicago in game 2 before everything unravelled.

So much needs to turn around for the Canucks in order for them to make this a series.  Roberto Luongo needs to stop more pucks, the guys in front of him need to stop more shots from getting through, and Vancouver need to stop taking penalties.

Since leading 2-0 in game 2, Chicago have outscored Vancouver 16-6 even though the majority of hockey since that time has been played on the Canucks' home ice, where they are supposed to have an advantage.

There really doesn't seem to be anyway to recommend the Canucks in tonight's game from Chicago as things appear to be going wrong in too many areas.  Even if Vancouver were to play their normal solid hockey, they are playing in a tough environment as Chicago are a solid home team.

Backing Chicago at -175 (4/7) is our recommendation and the spread at -1.5 (+165) looks tempting too as the Blackhawks have beaten the Canucks for 2+ goals in three straight games now.

Register with Players Only to bet on NHL hockey - take advantage of their 10% deposit bonus to receive free bets that can be used on the 2010 Stanley Cup finals.