The Blackhawks Right the Ship in Los Angeles

Chicago Blackhawks @ Los Angeles Kings – Thursday Game 4 (Chicago leads 2-1)

The sign of a true champion is how it reacts after a major loss. The Chicago Blackhawks were this season’s President’s Trophy winner and, normally, the online betting experts consider that particular award to be the playoff kiss of death. But in Chicago’s case, that does not seem to be true. The Blackhawks have put down some pretty good opponents so far in the playoffs and then they had the defending champs up against the ropes. But Los Angeles fought back and that leads us to a very important game four.

The Los Angeles Kings have a habit of giving the sportsbook experts fits. Just when it looks perfectly safe to count the Kings as down and out, the team fights back and makes itself relevant again. It is said that the Kings will only go as far as goaltender Jonathan Quick can take them. If game three is any indication, then Quick still has what it takes to take his team all the way to a Stanley Cup victory for the second year in a row. But Los Angeles will have to get past Chicago first.

Why the Kings Will Win

The simple thing to say is that the Los Angeles Kings will win this game because they are playing on home ice. That simplistic statement is actually pretty true. The betting sites know how tough the Kings are to play in their own building and it does not help Chicago’s case that Los Angeles has a little extra measure of motivation in this game as well. To say that these two teams will be renewing hostilities in game four is an accurate statement. The injury to Jeff Carter and suspension of Duncan Keith for inflicting that injury may be a factor in the rest of this series.

Why the Blackhawks Will Win

It could very well be that the heart of a champion beats within the Chicago Blackhawks. The team has fought through adversity throughout the entire playoffs and now it is faced with even more issues to deal with. A Los Angeles Kings team on home ice and motivated with revenge is not going to be easy to deal with. But Chicago has shown that it has more than enough talent to get past any of the headlines that may follow both teams into this game four.

The Bottom Line

The Chicago Blackhawks win games with speed and great goaltending. As the playoffs have gone on, goalie Corey Crawford has become more and more comfortable with the pressures of playoff hockey. The Los Angeles Kings will put up a fight in game four that most teams would find impossible to overcome. But the Blackhawks have been doing nothing but overcoming impossible obstacles for the entire playoffs.

Pick: Chicago Blackhawks