Livetipsportal presents you tonight's game 5 of the Western Conference Finals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks. The Red Wings are leading 3 wins to 1 in the series and are looking for an extra win to return to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second straight year and defend their title, while the Blackhawks are fighting for survival.
There are a lot of questions regarding potential returns of injured players from both sides for tonight. Hawks' goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin missed game 4. His partner Martin Havlat left game 3 after a terrific hit by Nicklas Kronwall. While it looked like he had a concussion and should not play in the next game, he was in the lineup for game 4, where he received a big hit from Brad Stuart, before the Hawks coaching staff decides to keep Havlat on the bench, limiting his icetime to just under eight minutes.
On Detroit's side, Selke Trophy winner Pavel Datsyuk and six times Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidström both missed game 4 and are unsure for tonight. However, their absence didn't prevent Detroit from getting a dominant 6-1 win in Chicago in game 4.
This series is clearly controlled by Detroit from the beginning. They've played at their usual level in games 1 and 4, and get big wins from that, with a 5-2 and a 6-1 scores. In games 2 and 3, Detroit had a little let down and played some of their worst hockey of the post-season. However, even though they were playing badly, they forced both games to overtime and even won one of them. So even if they play badly, even if they have key injured players, the Red Wings still have cleanly the upper hand in the series.
As far as tonight's game is concerned, it should be tighter than game 4. With their season on the line, the Blackhawks will probably show their best effort in an attempt to avoid elimination. But there's no doubt that Detroit can handle it and get the win on home ice anyway.
Choice: Detroit Red Wings, with an odd of 1.65 at Bwin
