The St. Louis Blues will welcome Central Division rival the Chicago Blackhawks at Scottrade Center Wednesday night. Chicago's Marian Hossa is likely to return from an eight-game absence, and I think we're getting a good price on the visitors in this match-up.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Situational - The Blues opened a four-game trip with a 5-0 loss at Nashville but followed that up with wins at Carolina, Ottawa and Minnesota. They have however lost each of their last four at home following a road trip of seven or more days and they could certainly have asked for an easier opponent in their first game back than the division-leading Hawks.

2. Corey Crawford - The Blackhawks netminder is 14-4-4 with three shutouts in his career versus the Blues, the most recent in a 2-0 win on Jan. 24. He's coming into this contest red hot yielding only five goals in his last three games and he turned away 33 shots in Sunday's 4-1 win against the Red Wings.

3. X-Factor - Chicago has gone 6-for-12 on the man advantage in its last four games.

Selection: This is a play on the Chicago Blackhawks (10*)