Whether Monday's game between Nashville and Chicago was an end-to-end shootout or a rugged battle of penalty killers, the Blackhawks were just a little bit better than the Predators.

As they ready themselves for Monday night's Game 6 against the Nashville Predators, here's one thing the Chicago Blackhawks don't want to have to worry about: Game 7.

Chicago forward Marian Hossa will be in the lineup Monday night when the Blackhawks try to close out this Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Predators in six games.

It looked for a while on Saturday like Chicago forward Marian Hossa might be the biggest reason the Blackhawks lost a critical Game 5 in their Western Conference playoff series.

Instead, it was Hossa who wound up getting mobbed by teammates after his goal 4:07 into overtime produced the Blackhawks' 5-4 victory over the Predators at United Center.

But n the minds of some Predators, Hossa should have been ejected from the game following his hit on Dan Hamhuis.

With their series against the Blackhawks tied 2-2 and two of the potentially three next games to be played in Chicago, the Nashville Predators may decide they need injured top goal scorer Patric Hornqvist to play for the first time in the playoffs in Game 5 on Saturday.