Rangers draw first blood, Canada/Russia meet in final, and more…

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The Conference Finals kicked off on Saturday with Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final between the Rangers and the Lightning. I kind of wished this was a Hockey Night in Canada game instead of a Hockey Day in Canada game, or for me on the West Coast, a Hockey Morning in Canada game. I already had other plans for the morning, so I could not watch this game live. But I'll do my best to break down the highlights that I watched and what I read.

Dominic Moore's game winner was his first goal of this season's playoffs, although he has 11 career playoff goals over a playoff career that is as long as an 82-game full season. Although he's not much of a factor in fantasy leagues, Moore has had a knack of finding teams going on deep playoff runs (2014-15 Rangers, 2011 Lightning, 2010 Canadiens) and scoring key goals. Four of his 11 playoff goals have been game winners.

Speaking of timely goals, Game 7 hero Derek Stepan opened the scoring for the Blueshirts with just 13 seconds to play in the second period. Stepan has scored goals in back-to-back games and points in each of his last four games. With a strong postseason of 9 points in 13 games, Stepan might get noticed a little more in fantasy drafts next season. But a strong postseason performance shouldn't be needed to justify a high pick (55 points and a +26 in 68 regular-season games).

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In spite of the loss, the Lightning scored their 10^th power-play goal during the postseason, which is more than any other team. However, their conversion rate (18.5 percent) hasn't necessarily helped the cause. The main reason has been the sheer number of opportunities (54), only 14 more than the next team (the Rangers). Mind you, the Bolts have already played 14 playoff games – only Washington has played that many. But this goes to show the Bolts' ability to draw penalties with their speed. Tyler Johnson seems to be particularly effective in this area, drawing 2.23 minor penalties per 60 minutes during the playoffs (NHL.com).

Ryan Callahan needed just five days to return from an appendectomy, missing only one playoff game. I guess that's Example No. 1,329,063 as to why hockey players are tough. If you happen to need an appendectomy, don't try this at home.

By the way, I picked the Rangers in 7 for this series. You can find out why, along with finding out which teams the other Dobber writers picked for the Conference Finals here.

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On to the World Championships, where Canada will face Russia in Sunday's gold medal match. Canada defeated the host Czech Republic team 2-0, although a waved off goal from the Czech Republic generated the most discussion in this one. You can watch the film over at TSN, although I can't seem to find any way to embed it into this article. Someone more tech savvy than me probably can, though.

If you didn't watch the game or at least the link above, the goal was disallowed because Czech forward Petr Koukal had his foot into the crease. You probably remember the days of NHL goals being waved off because a player had his foot in the crease, even though he wasn't interfering with the goalie or the play in general. If you're a Buffalo Sabres fan in particular, you probably remember this goal not being waved off in spite of that rule being in place at the time (although the video below seems to provide a decent explanation).

Well, that rule still exists in the IIHF, and the refs made the right call. So the problem is the rule itself, not the enforcement. That's kind of how many of us feel about the "puck over glass."

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Speaking of the Stars, Jason Spezza is currently the leading scorer in the tourney with 14 points in just nine games. On the Stars, he's a second-line center who is better than a few teams' number one center. With Tyler Seguin, and Jamie Benn in the fold, Spezza seems to get forgotten about in what is a scary good offense. Remember they were second in the NHL with 3.13 goals per game this season. If they can use the offseason to shore up what was a disastrous defense (coincidentally, 3.13 goals allowed per game), they will be a power next season in the Central Division – a division that could be anyone's next season.

I'll admit that I was a little nervous when I heard that Mike Smith would be starting in goal for Canada. But he has put my fears to rest with a solid tournament. Hopefully Smith is using this to build his confidence level for next season. His Coyotes will probably be firmly entrenched in the Auston Matthews sweepstakes, but expect Smith to at least be better than the goalie you should not have started for any reason during the first half of this season. After all, he couldn't be any worse than that, could he?

How badly do you think Alex Ovechkin wants to win the World Championship after losing in overtime of Game 7 a few nights ago? Russia has won four of the last seven World Championships, and they will have all hands on deck for the final with Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Ilya Kovalchuk. This should be a great hockey game.

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I mentioned the Jonathan Toews/Ryan Kesler matchup in my Conference Finals prediction, and here's why. Remember when the Canucks and Blackhawks faced each other for three consecutive seasons (2009-2011) during the playoffs? Not playing on a top line benefits Kesler's team during the playoffs, since he can assume that role of shutdown center against a team's top center.

It's not only the goals, but also the faceoffs that will be key. Among players who have taken at least 100 draws during the playoffs, Kesler's 63.7 percent success rate is third only to Antoine Vermette (64.4 percent) and Jay Beagle (63.8 percent) (NHL.com). Kesler is also third in this year's playoffs with 137 faceoffs won.

And darn, it's another afternoon game. On at around the same time as the Canada/Russia game. I hope my chore list will be light.

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Finally, the NHL's version of The Decision (at least for this season) may be "decided" this week. I still have no idea where Mike Babcock will end up, but on Friday Don Cherry gave him some very good advice on Twitter. But if Babcock does in fact jump ship, I'd put my money on the Wings hiring Jeff Blashill, the coach of their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids. From Sportsnet, here's more on Blashill, who we could be seeing in the NHL soon either in Detroit or elsewhere.

As always, thanks for reading…