Stanley Cup

Based on the regular season, the Chicago Blackhawks are favored to oust the surging Boston Bruins and win their second Stanley Cup in the last four years. Then again, as the Los Angeles Kings showed last year, the regular season doesn't mean much in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Fact is, Boston - which had 15 fewer points than Chicago in the lockout-shortened, 48-game regular season - has been playing with a relaxed but focused attitude ever since it made the most remarkable Game 7 recovery in NHL history, way back in Round 1 against Toronto.

Wayne Stephenson, a backup goalie on the Flyers' second Stanley Cup championship team, died on June 22 in Madison, Wis. He was 65. No cause of death has been revealed. Stephenson was the starting goalie in one of the most famous games in Flyers history - a 4-1 victory over the Soviet Red Army at the Spectrum on Jan. 11, 1976. "On behalf of the Philadelphia Flyers, I would like to personally send my condolences to Nedina and the entire Stephenson family," Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider said yesterday in a statement.

Maureen Powers, a police officer for Amtrak, uses a flashlight to illuminate the Stanley Cup for Dennis Henry to see where the names of this year's champions will be inscribed, last night at 30th Street Station.

The Stanley Cup hangover continues. On the day after the Rangers broke their 54-year date with dismay, a hockey halftime broke out at the basketball game. Mark Messier, the Rangers' team captain, did an encore performance with his sport's most precious trophy. One night after Messier and his teammates did the traditional victory celebration in some New York drinking establishment - sipping from the Cup, kissing the Cup, the whole deal - the captain came back to the Garden and raised high his prize.

The Stanley Cup Finals lost nearly a quarter of what already was a small television audience. Anaheim's 1-0 win over Ottawa in Game 2 on Wednesday night got a 0.6 cable rating on Versus and was watched in 446,000 homes in the United States. The rating was down 33 percent from last year's second game, a 5-0 victory for Carolina over Edmonton, which received a 0.9 cable rating (600,000 homes) on OLN, as Versus was then known. The Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby, at 19 the youngest player in NHL history to get 100 points in a season and to win a scoring title, is now the youngest to wear the captain's C. The youngest previous captain was Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier.

The Flyers will watch the Bruins raise the Stanley Cup championship banner when they open the season Oct. 6 in Boston. On their way to the Cup, the Bruins avenged a 2010 playoff loss with a four-game sweep of the Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. In their second Winter Classic, the Flyers will host the New York Rangers at Citizens Bank Park at 1 p.m. Jan. 2. And former captain Mike Richards, traded Thursday to Los Angeles, will return with the Kings in the Flyers' fourth game of the season, Oct. 15. Oct. 6 at Boston, 7 p.m. Oct. 8 at New Jersey, 7 p.m. Oct. 12 Vancouver, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15 Los Angeles, 7 p.m. Oct. 18 at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 Washington, 7 p.m. Oct. 22 St. Louis, 7 p.m. Oct. 24 Toronto, 7 p.m. Oct. 26 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27 Winnipeg, 7 p.m. Oct. 29 Carolina, 7 p.m. Nov. 2 at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3 New Jersey, 7 p.m. Nov. 5 Columbus, 7 p.m. Nov. 9 at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at Florida, 5 p.m. Nov. 14 at Carolina, 7 p.m. Nov. 17 Phoenix, 7 p.m. Nov. 19 at Winnipeg, 3 p.m. Nov. 21 Carolina, 7 p.m. Nov. 23 at N.Y. Islanders, 7 p.m. Nov. 25 Montreal, 1 p.m. Nov. 26 at N.Y. Rangers, 2 p.m. Dec. 2 at Anaheim, 10 p.m. Dec. 3 at Phoenix, 8 p.m. Dec. 7 at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. Dec. 10 Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at Washington, 7 p.m....

To appreciate the best of what the NHL has to offer - the speed, skill and exquisite timing that attract the game's purists - it's necessary to gaze toward the Western Conference, where the power and entertainment are monopolized by four teams. In St. Louis, Colorado, Detroit and Dallas, the game is played at its highest and most enjoyable levels. So it will be surprising if the Stanley Cup is not hoisted by the Blues, Avalanche, Red Wings or Stars when the most grueling tournament in professional sports ends in the heat of mid-June.

For the next two months inside NHL dressing rooms stretching from Buffalo to Anaheim, the demand for painkillers, sutures, face shields, bandages and vials of ginseng extract will become more frequent. On the periphery of the games, the howls for justice and the accusations of foul play will grow louder, and the secrecy surrounding injuries to key players will be tightened. The Stanley Cup playoffs, the sporting world's most physically demanding tournament, begin tonight with the openers of four Western Conference series.

Last June the Flyers came within two wins of winning the Stanley Cup. Today, Flyers fans can pose and take pictures with the Stanley Cup and snag autographs from their favorite Flyers' alumni. Lord Stanley's mug will be at Ice Works in Aston, (3100 Duttons Mill Rd.) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Former Flyers Bill Clement, Brian Propp, Dave Schultz, Bob Kelly, Jim Watson, Joe Watson, Ed Hospodar and Kerry Huffman will be signing autographs at various times throughout the day. Admission is $5 per person or $10 per family, with all proceeds going to Flyers Charities including Hockey Fights Cancer, the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and the Jenny Barber Cancer Fund.

Please welcome the 2012-13 Stanley Cup champion Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs? If a member of the Canadian parliament gets his way, it might happen in June. Brent Rathgeber, a lawyer and Conservative Party MP who represents Edmonton-St. Albert, Alberta, says Lord Stanley's Cup should be awarded to a Canadian amateur team such as the senior-level Chinook Hockey League's Chiefs if the NHL labor fight isn't settled in time to save the season. Rathgeber suggested in a blog post last week that the Cup could be the prize in a national competition to determine the best non-pro team in Canada.

THE PICK Blackhawks in 6 The reason: This is an incredibly difficult series to predict. All along, my gut has told me Chicago is the league's best overall team - which would make me lean toward them in this matchup. But I never imagined the Bruins would have swept such a deep Penguins team out of the playoffs in the fashion they did last week. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jarome Iginla and Kris Letang were all muzzled so cleanly. Boston's road has been rather easy, though, when you consider the Bruins faced rather mediocre Maple Leaf and Ranger clubs, before dismantling the Pens.

AGENDA STANLEY CUP FINALS Chicago Blackhawks (36-7-5) vs. Boston Bruins (28-14-6). (Best-of-seven; x-if necessary) TV: NBC, Games 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7; NBC Sports Network, Games 2 and 3. Game 1: Tonight Bruins at Blackhawks, 8 Game 2: Saturday Bruins at Blackhawks, 8 p.m. Game 3: Monday Blackhawks at Bruins, 8 p.m. Game 4: Wednesday, June 19 Blackhawks at Bruins, 8 p.m. x-Game 5: Saturday, June 22...

COREY CRAWFORD was in the stands when Patrick Kane slammed home the goal that secured the Stanley Cup for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010. A year later, Tuukka Rask was just a practice player when Tim Thomas led the Boston Bruins to the title. Fast forward to tonight at the United Center, and Crawford and Rask will be in goal when the Blackhawks host the Bruins in Game 1 of the Cup finals. It's been a long road, but that little taste of the Stanley Cup turned into much more for two of the most important players for this series.

Based on the regular season, the Chicago Blackhawks are favored to oust the surging Boston Bruins and win their second Stanley Cup in the last four years. Then again, as the Los Angeles Kings showed last year, the regular season doesn't mean much in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Fact is, Boston - which had 15 fewer points than Chicago in the lockout-shortened, 48-game regular season - has been playing with a relaxed but focused attitude ever since it made the most remarkable Game 7 recovery in NHL history, way back in Round 1 against Toronto.

CHICAGO - When it comes to power plays in the Stanley Cup finals, the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins might just prefer to keep going with everyone on the ice. The last two teams in the NHL playoffs have been lousy with the man advantage and terrific at killing penalties during the postseason. When the Blackhawks are forced to play a man down, Michael Frolik and Marcus Kruger are so persistent it almost resembles an even-strength situation. And the Bruins have hulking defenseman Zdeno Chara and goalie Tuukka Rask, who is swallowing everything at the net these days.

After two straight playoff runs extending well into June, Dustin Brown believes the Los Angeles Kings get the full benefit of all that experience only if they stay together. Two days after the Kings' title defense ended in the Western Conference finals in Chicago, Brown echoed his teammates' desire Monday to keep the Kings' core largely intact this fall. The captain echoed the thoughts of general manager Dean Lombardi, who said he'll endeavor to keep nearly every significant contributor to the team coming off the most successful two-year stretch in franchise history.

TWO FRANCHISES, rich in history, talent and star power. Two winning teams that know what it takes to bring home the Stanley Cup. Intrigue, in the form of a schedule that kept them away from each other for an entire season. Oh, there's plenty to love about this series. The Stanley Cup finals kick off Wednesday night when the Chicago Blackhawks host the Boston Bruins in the first finals matchup of Original Six franchises since Montreal beat the New York Rangers in five games way back in 1979.

CHICAGO - Two franchises, rich in history, talent and star power. Two winning teams that know what it takes to bring home the Stanley Cup. Intrigue, in the form of a schedule that kept them away from each other for an entire season. Oh, there's plenty to love about this series. The Stanley Cup Finals start Wednesday night when the Chicago Blackhawks host the Boston Bruins in the first Finals matchup of Original Six franchises since Montreal beat the New York Rangers in five games in 1979.

Brad Marchand scored twice during a four-goal first period and the Boston Bruins routed the host Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-1, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night. David Krejci, Nathan Horton, Patrice Bergeron and Johnny Boychuk also scored for Boston, which hardly broke a sweat while going up, two games to one, in the best-of-seven series. Tuukka Rask kept Sidney Crosby and the rest of the NHL's top offense in check once again, stopping 26 shots. Game 3 is Wednesday night in Boston.

BRYAN BICKELL and Michal Handzus scored on consecutive shots in the second period, and the Chicago Blackhawks chased goalie Jonathan Quick on their way to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings last night in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals. Andrew Shaw and Brent Seabrook also scored as the rolling Blackhawks grabbed a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with their fifth consecutive victory. Patrick Sharp added two assists, and Corey Crawford made 29 saves in another solid performance.