Stanley Cup

LAST WEEK, High & Inside colleague Ed Barkowitz suggested several places where the Kings' Jeff Carter, who owns a house in Sea Isle City at the Jersey Shore, could take the Stanley Cup. Lest you think we were joking, consider that Sunday the silver grail was seen sunning on a California beach. Philip Pritchard, the man with the coolest job title in the world — Keeper of the Cup — posted the accompanying photo on his Twitter account Sunday along with the tweet, "Making the rounds....at Venice Beach.

For Flyers fans, it is the Stanley Cup finals matchup from hell. Rooting for either the Los Angeles Kings or the New Jersey Devils to skate off with the Cup is like playing a game of the lesser of two evils. Would Flyers fans rather watch Mike Richards and Jeff Carter celebrate their first Stanley Cup less than a year after being jettisoned from Philadelphia? Or would they rather watch the Devils, who surprisingly ousted their team in short order after finishing below them in the standings, win their fourth Cup in 17 seasons?

Ed Barkowitz: Considering what the Flyers received in return, trading Mike Richards was not a mistake. Making him the team captain when he was only 23 was. Richards is comfortable now, mucking and grinding in the shadows of Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and three other guys casual fans on this side of the continent couldn't pick out of a lineup. Marty Brodeur has the Hall of Fame credentials, but LA's Jonathan Quick has been the best goaltender in the postseason. Any goalie can steal a game, Quick has stolen series.

NEWARK, N.J. - Simon Gagne last skated in an NHL game on Dec. 26, 2011. From afar, Gagne has watched the last 5 months of the Los Angeles Kings' roller-coaster season - from squeaking into the playoffs as the West's eighth seed to cruising to the Stanley Cup final - unfold without him, missing the last 62 games with a concussion. On April 19, Kings coach Darryl Sutter said he wasn't sure if Gagne was even in North America, in an attempt to clear up any lingering questions about the two-time All-Star's status.

Lots of local hockey fans would love to see the Stanley Cup. But maybe not if it's being presented by two former Flyers who helped win it just this season for another team. The Flyers' last championship came in 1975, and fans have since endured the heartbreak of losing in the finals a half-dozen times. Thursday afternoon at Caesars Atlantic City, the famous trophy will be accompanied by Los Angeles Kings forward Justin Williams and Kings assistant coach John Stevens, with Trenton Titans assistant coach Todd Fedoruk, another ex-Flyer in attendance.

MIKE RICHARDS did not hesitate. The Prince of Wales Trophy, awarded to the Eastern Conference champion, was barely on the table for 30 seconds. After conferring with his teammates for a few minutes, Richards skated over, grabbed the trophy and hoisted it over his head as 19,986 at the Wachovia Center roared with approval. Richards, after all, was a big reason why the Flyers extinguished the flame of another team last night - this time, the Montreal Canadiens - with a nail-biting, 4-2 win to take the series in five games.

Traditionally, the captain of the Stanley Cup team is supposed to hoist the Stanley Cup above his head, alone, before anybody else. But after the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Calgary Flames at the Olympic Saddledome on Saturday night for their 23d Stanley Cup championship, it was two guys who had their hands on the Cup: captain Bob Gainey and Larry Robinson. On a team with a rookie coach, Jean Perron, and with eight rookies on the playoff roster, it seemed fitting that the only two remaining active carryovers from the Canadiens' past glories would take the first bows.

The other day, as the Flyers were preparing to leave for their epic Game 7 in Boston, the subject of Fred Shero's legendary blackboard scrawl, "Win today and we walk together forever," came up. Peter Laviolette, trying to become the first Flyers coach since Shero to hoist the Stanley Cup, smiled slyly. This was a big game, but a little perspective was in order. "Win tonight and we're halfway there," he said. "I really don't think that's going to get them going. " In a way, what the Flyers did against the Bruins was more remarkable than winning a championship.

Good-natured Ilya Bryzgalov, the talkative, talented goalie whose availability caused the Flyers to make offseason (roster) gyrations that would have made Lady Gaga proud, welcomes the high expectations. But he also has words of caution for the fans who have been starving for a dominant netminder. Speaking with a thick Russian accent - he sometimes struggles to find the right words, but his English is very good - Bryzgalov acknowledged he has heard himself being mentioned in the same sentence as Bernie Parent, Pelle Lindbergh and Ron Hextall.

PITTSBURGH - In their BB - Before Bylsma - dark period, when the Penguins went 12-19-1 in midseason to fall into 10th place in the Eastern Conference, defenseman Rob Scuderi occasionally thought of his final collegiate season at Boston College. "There were times when we weren't playing very good, but nobody got down because of our experience - so, there's something to be said for having it, absolutely," Scuderi said of that 2000-01 campaign, which Boston College capped with an NCAA title after losing championship games the previous two seasons.