NHL Betting Preview: Chicago Blackhawks vs. St. Louis Blues Game 5 Odds

The Chicago Blackhawks are on the brink of elimination as they visit the St. Louis Blues in Game 5 of their first-round series Thursday.

The Blues are big -900 favorites (bet $900 to win $100) to advance to the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and -130 favorites to win Game 5 at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark after taking a commanding 3-1 series lead Tuesday with a 4-3 victory.

St. Louis has won five of the past six meetings with Chicago and saw the over cash for the first time in seven games between them in Game 4, according to the OddsShark NHL Database, thanks to a pair of goals from All-Star winger Vladimir Tarasenko.

The Blackhawks led for a little more than four minutes in the second period after defenseman Duncan Keith scored on a strange power play that resulted from Blues rookie Robby Fabbri getting into a fight with goaltender Corey Crawford.

The home team seemed to grab some momentum for the first time in the game before Tarasenko evened the score with his second goal on the power play before the end of the period.

St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott was again stellar between the pipes and looks to be the MVP of the series following his 39-save performance. Elliott outplayed his counterpart, Crawford, yet again despite getting peppered with more shots for the third time in four games.

The only outing in which Crawford made more saves than Elliott was in Game 2, when he stopped 29 of 31 shots in a 3-2 Blackhawks win. Other than that, Chicago has been the more aggressive team offensively throughout the series and will need to be again in order to have any chance of winning Game 5.

Surprisingly, the best offensive player in this series for the Blackhawks has been Keith, even though he missed the first game due to a suspension. He has three goals in the last three games, including two in Game 4 and four points overall.

According to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston (h/t Rotoworld), Chicago will be without forward Andrew Shaw in Game 5 after he used inappropriate language following a costly penalty in Game 4. Shaw tallied three points in Game 4 with one goal and two assists, and he is tied with Keith and Patrick Kane for the most points on the team with four in the playoffs. Kane has four assists.