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Blackhawks face elimination while Kings hope to stay hot against Sharks

Jonathan Toews, Kevin Bieksa, Patrick Kane

The playoff schedule can be a bit funky and that’s why tonight we’ve got a chance to see our first elimination of the playoffs as well as the last of the Game 3’s to drop the puck. With just two games to keep our eyes on, our attention won’t be spread all over the place. One at a time kids. All eyes will be on Chicago tonight as the defending champion Blackhawks get to show what they’ve got left, if anything, against Vancouver at home.

Vancouver @ Chicago - 8 p.m. ET (Versus) - Vancouver leads series 3-0

This is it for Chicago. After backing their way into the playoffs, it’s come down to this and they’re one more loss from being eliminated. Imagine that, being the last to get into the postseason and the first to be knocked out. It’d make for an ignominious defeat for the defending Stanley Cup champions but if we’re going to have the first repeat winner since the Red Wings did it in 1997 and 1998 the Blackhawks had better get it right and stay right. At the very least it looks like they’ll get Dave Bolland back into the lineup. Every little bit helps.

The Canucks, however, are a team on a mission and they’d like to end Chicago’s season and exorcise their main postseason ghosts in the most humiliating way possible by sweeping them out. Of course, this game doesn’t come without its share of drama. With Raffi Torres escaping punishment for his hit on Brent Seabrook, we might see some sort of retaliation from Chicago for the hit. Seabrook will play in the game, but given how upset Chicago seems to be about it, if Torres plays we might see our share of fireworks in this game, especially with the Blackhawks backed into a corner.

San Jose @ Los Angeles - 10:30 p.m. ET (Versus) - Series tied 1-1

It’s the series a lot of us didn’t expect to be competitive yet here we are with the Kings having earned a split on the road. Now that the series shifts to Los Angeles, the Sharks have a few things they need to get fixed. They have to not take bad penalties and then allow their suddenly poor penalty kill to get worked over by the Kings high-powered defensemen Jack Johnson and Drew Doughty. While the Kings seemed like they’d be pushovers without Anze Kopitar, they’ve been anything but that.

Frightening part of this series for both teams comes from the lack of scoring from some of the bigger names for both teams. Dustin Penner has been borderline terrible for L.A. while Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau have been more than notably absent on the scoresheet for San Jose. The playoffs are when big players must show up in a big way. The Sharks could use it from their stars because Kings goalie Jon Quick has looked strong in both games of this series.