Canucks' Salo will play in Game 5

VANCOUVER –The curious case of Sami Salo has been solved. The Canucks' defenseman will be in the lineup to face the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 5 of this Western Conference semifinal series.

Salo has missed the last two games of the Western Conference Semifinal with a lower body injury.

The veteran defenceman skated with teammates Saturday morning and once again showed no signs of injury.

"Maybe," said Salo, in reference to if he’ll dress alongside Willie Mitchell on the Canucks blue line in Game 5.

"I don’t know yet, we’ll go do a little rehab now and see how things go."

Salo will be looking to shut down Chicago's potent offense while adding to his two game-winning goals this postseason.

"I want to play every night so you try to push yourself to get back in the line-up as fast as you can," Salo said, adding that he’s not a fan of watching his team play without him.

"That’s the hardest part. Every time it’s tough to watch on TV. It’s way easier to play the game because you can do something about the game."

The Canucks want to continue the stellar defense that has allowed only three goals over the last two games after giving up nine in Games 1 and 2.

There is a balancing act to perform though, as forward Ryan Johnson pointed out, because the Canucks must have more focus on generating chances in Game 5.

Scoring would be the best result, but even drawing penalties would be good.

Vancouver was only granted one power play opportunity in Game 4, which Chicago killed off.

"I don’t think we were putting them in tough situations and we needed to, especially chipping pucks to speed 10 feet inside or outside their blueline and making them have to turn and put pressure on them around their net," said Johnson.

"We didn’t do that enough and that’s usually when you can cause a team to take penalties, so it’s something we’re definitely going to do a lot more of tonight."