Conn Smythe Watch & a look back at Game 1.

The Conference finals got underway on Sunday with Chicago & Philadelphia both winning Game one. I'll share my thoughts on that in a bit but right now I want to take a look at who is the favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.

1. Jonathan Toews: He had four goals & eight assists in the series against Vancouver and was the best player on the ice for Chicago. Right now he is the leading scorer in the post-season with 21 points.

2. Mike Cammalleri: Cammalleri leads all goal scorers in the post-season with 12 goals and he scored seven of them against Pittsburgh in the 2nd round. Jaroslav Halak may get all the headlines for Montreal but Cammalleri has been their best player this post-season.

3. Simon Gagne: He has only played in nine playoff games this post-season but his return and the impact it had against Boston puts him in the mix. He scored four goals against the Bruins including the game winners in Game four & Game seven. Most importantly, the Flyers haven't lost since his return.

4. Daniel Briere: You could make the case that Briere and not Gagne has been the best player for the Flyers so far this post-season. He has eight goals and nine assists during the playoffs and has scored key goals in the last three games for Philadelphia.

5. Joe Pavelski:He has only one point in the playoffs since scoring two goals against Detroit in Game Two of their series but he has nine goals this post-season so he can't be ignored from consideration for the Conn Smythe.

Now onto a couple quick thoughts on what happened Sunday

Chicago vs. San Jose: Chicago's defense did a great job shutting down the top line for San Jose. The Sharks only goal came from Jason Demars, who strikes fear in the heart of no one, on the Power Play.

I expect the Sharks to make whatever adjustments that need to be made and win game two tonight. If they fall behind two games to none to Chicago that may be too big a hole to dig out of the way the Blackhawks are playing.

Montreal vs. Philadelphia: The Flyers jumped on the Canadiens in the 2nd period, scoring three goals and chasing Jaroslav Halak from goal, en route to a 6-0 win. While it was a nice win for Philly let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

The story with Montreal this whole post-season has been their ability to overcome adversity. Remember, Halak got chased from Game one against Pittsburgh when the Penguins scored six goals. as we know now Montreal was able to bounce back and win the series.

It's only one game. Lets see how the Canadiens respond before we declare this series over. Both games are on Versus tonight starting at 6 PM.

Thanks for reading & enjoy the hockey.