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CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago Blackhawks will be without key defenseman Brent Seabrook as they try to stave off elimination from the playoffs on Tuesday when they face the Vancouver Canucks.

Trailing the Western Conference quarter-final 3-0, the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks are in a must-win situation in their best-of-seven series.

"Over the course of the last couple of days we were evaluating him and getting to see this morning how things presented, we were hopeful that he was playing tonight, but we made our decision this morning," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said on the team's website.

Chicago did receive some good news on Tuesday, announcing that center Dave Boland is fit to return to action after being sidelined since early March with concussion symptoms.

"He's ready to play," said Quenneville. "He's a competitor. He likes that kind of game and he finds ways where he can be effective, use his intelligence and his instincts."

(Writing by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Frank Pingue)