The Chicago Blackhawks suffered a huge blow Tuesday when points leader Marian Hossa was knocked out of the game on a huge hit by Phoenix Coyotes’ Raffi Torres.

With Hossa now out indefinitly, the Blackhawks try to swing back Thursday night in Game Four of the Western Conference playoffs.

Bovada is favoring Chicago by 1 1/2 goals with a -165 moneyline. It may be because of the extra motivation Torres provided. He was suspended indefinitly for the hit Chicago coach Joel Quenneville called “brutal”.

Hossa argued that the speed of the game is responsible for the hit.
”I felt like it was a hockey play. I was just trying to finish my hit out there,” he told the Associated Press.

Phoenix coach Dave Tippett agreed.

”I’ve seen a lot of other hits like it in the league. It’s a fast game,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said Wednesday. ”The thing about TV is you can slow it down and you can click and click and click it. When you’re out there on the ice, it’s not slowed down and click, click, click. It’s a fast game.”

The Blackhawks aren’t buying it, though. Torres’ skates were off the ice when he made the big hit, and Hossa had just passed off the puck.

”In the history of the game, hitting is used to dislodge a player from the puck, not the intent to injure when you don’t have the puck because you aren’t aware. To me, that wasn’t a hockey play,” Blackhawks forward Andrew Brunette told the AP. ”When you don’t have the puck, there shouldn’t be that kind of contact.”

Hossa was taken to the hospital for evaluation, and there is no timetable for his return. He leads the team with 77 points and nine power plays, critical considering Chicago was only 1 of 7 on power plays in Game Three.

”There’s only been one dirty hit in our series and you saw the same thing from that guy last year in the same series,” Chicago’s Patrick Sharp told the AP. ”You know it’s coming. You try to warn your linemates and be aware when he’s on the ice. He’s got a history of targeting guys’ heads and having questionable hits. It makes it that much more frustrating to see it happen, but we got to rally behind Hoss.”

Chicago was dazed enough after Tuesday night’s loss. The Blackhawks were in control most of the game and took a 1-0 lead into the third period. But when penalties cut it down to 4-on-4, three goals were scored in a span of seconds, and Phoenix had two of them to force overtime.

It was the fifth time in league history, and the first time since 2008, that the first three games all went to overtime.

Both teams have 9/1 odds to win the west, according to Bovada’s NHL Futures Betting Odds.