How pumped is league brass for this Stanley Cup Final matchup? I mean, Los Angeles-New York. That's their dream, right? The two biggest US markets. What a win for them.

As I mentioned last week I had the Rangers at 20/1 to win the Cup. I hedged that basically as soon as I could. It kind of sucks being off the Rangers bandwagon but I'm happy for the guaranteed profit and to be able to sit back and enjoy the series. I'll be pulling for the Rangers anyway as the Kings have already won a Cup recently.

Last night's opener started pretty slowly. Sure there were three first period goals and a bunch of shots but the pace itself was pretty slow. Not until the end of the period did the pace really kick up. The slower pace probably favours the Rangers, which is likely why it looked like they might run away with it early turning a couple of turnovers into a 2-0 lead.

The second Rangers goal came shorthanded on a particularly miserable Kings power play. The Rangers significantly out-chanced the Kings on that one, despite being down a man.

Fortunately for the Kings, they responded shortly after on a greasy goal by Kyle Clifford, his first of the playoffs. That goal caught me off guard as it really didn't seem like the Kings had much of anything going. I think they were really to escape the first period down just one.

It was looking like more of the same in the second period and then Drew Doughty did this.

The energy in the game jumped exponentially after that bit of magic. We were all winners for that as the back-and-forth second period was truly great. The period ended deadlocked at 2-2 setting up an even more exciting third.

The Kings owned much of the third taking a 14-0 advantage in shots over halfway through the frame before finally ceding a shot on goal. Ultimately the Kings won the period 20-3 in terms of shots but the game went to overtime anyway. Henrik Lundqvist played admirably to hold the fort.

If not for the Kings' anemic power play the game very well could have ended because of a brutal penalty on Brian Boyle after a Kings player had his stick blow up with Boyle in the general area. The Kings buzzed the net a few times before narrowly allowing another short-handed goal to Carl Hagelin. That shorthanded chance immediately led to a Jeff Carter chance the other way. Mayhem.

Overtime featured some mesmerizingly ugly hockey. The puck was bouncing so much it appeared more like a pinball game than hockey. Unsurprisingly a brutal turnover by Dan Girardi after he tripped on a clearing attempt led to the game winner by Justin Williams, who is more than just Mr. Game Seven, thank you very much.

And the comeback kids do it again. The Kings probably deserved to win. They did carry the shot battle 43-27 but you can't help but feel that they should feel lucky to have won. The Kings really did dig a hole with their turnovers in the opening period and their brutal power play could use a tune up. Credit the Rangers for stifling the Kings power play, which had been humming along heading into this series.

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I know we just watched game one but I enjoyed this Stanley Cup Final preview from Sean McIndoe.

McIndoe also runs down 20 years of Canadian futility.

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Marc Staal looks to become the third brother to win a Cup.

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The Blue Jackets have signed Simon Hjalmarsson (former Blues draft pick). He had some really impressive scoring figures in Sweden this past season (nearly a point per game in a stingy league) and could be an asset though the Blue Jackets are a fairly deep team.

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Read into this what you will but new Canucks GM Jim Benning is open to upgrading in goal.

We're going to look at every avenue we have to make our team competitive. Vancouver is a big-market city, we've got a passionate fan base, [and] our owners want to win," Benning told Sportsnet 590 The Fan's Brady & Walker when asked directly about signing a free-agent goaltender. "I know they have a lot of confidence in Eddie Lack. For a first-year goalie last year, he had a good season, and we hope that he can take it to the next step this year."

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The Canucks are however, NOT interested in moving Alexander Edler.

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I guess I've been sleeping on these for a while now. John Buccigross answers some questions in his Twitterbag, which I found highly entertaining.

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Did you guys see this nonsense about draft prospect Sam Bennett not being able to do one pull-up?

That's embarrassing but I don't hold it against him at all. I care more about what he can do on the ice. I remember there being some ridiculousness about Kevin Durant after his pre-draft camp and his inability to complete the bench press workout. Well he just won NBA MVP so I put zero stock into this stuff.

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The Hockey News with Five Under-the-Radar Players from the 2013-14 season.

5. Roman Josi

D, Nashville Predators

Ever since Ryan Suter left Nashville for Minnesota, the Predators have been looking to fill a major hole on 'D'. Luckily for them, the answer has come in the form of a 23-year-old from Switzerland. In his first full NHL season after being drafted in 2008, Josi was the perfect complement to all-world blueliner Shea Weber. It seems like the pair will be together long term as Josi is inked for another six years, but you never know what can happen in Nashville. If Josi can keep getting better, don't expect to see him on any more under the radar lists.

The rest of list was Wayne Simmonds, Alexander Steen, Kyle Okposo and Andrej Sekera. Those players may have been under the radar going into the season but they aren't any more. At least not the top three. I do believe you can get a good purchase price on either defenseman.

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Stars and Sticks makes the case for Ales Hemsky in Washington.

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Bar Down brings us NHL logos Simpsons style!

Stick tap to forum member Axeman for that link.

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You can follow me on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.