Monday Links - hockey almost over for the summer.

There are a few stories of interest today on the internet about Stanley Cup Finals.

There is one thing that we know – the Stanley Cup Playoffs are going to last one or two more games and then the NHL will be in full summer mode. This season Stanley Cup Finals has been one of the most uneventful playoff series in a very long time. There has been nothing in the way of big hits that need extra scrutiny or villains like the Canucks Alex Burrows that need to be vilified.

Can Devils captain Zach Parise heat up?

After checking in with seven goals and 14 points in the first 17 games of this postseason, the production has dropped off for Parise. He doesn't have a point in five games and has a plus-minus rating of minus-five in this stretch.

"Zach's game is so much more than the stat line," Devils coach Peter DeBoer. "He's the heartbeat of our team. He's the identity of our team. He forechecks, he back-checks, he kills penalties, plays in all situations. He really is our barometer. He's the guy that makes us go, whether he's scoring or not. "Again, I don't measure his game on goals and assists. He's creating opportunities. They're eventually going to go in. He's had these type of situations before. It's tough out there right now for anybody to score. But I'm not concerned about his game. I know it's going to come." Parise twisted his left ankle in the third period of Game 4 and briefly missed some time. But he practiced on Friday and will play. DeBoer will not make any changes to his lineup. That means veteran defenceman Henrik Tallinder and forward Petr Sykora will suit up again. [Tim Wharnsby,CBC.CA]

With the win on Saturday night the Devils All-World goalie and future hall of famer added to his already
impressive total. In my opinion Martin Brodeur is one of the best goalie in my lifetime.

Brodeur has won three Stanley Cups, two Olympic gold medals, four Vezina Trophies and a Calder Trophy. He is the only goalie to put together eight 40-win seasons and no netminder has played in more games (1,191), won more (656) and recorded more shutouts (163).

With his victory on Saturday, Brodeur recorded his 17th win in a Stanley Cup final to move into a tie with New York Islanders great Billy Smith on the all-time final wins list.

25 - Jacques Plante, Montreal
24 - Ken Dryden, Montreal
21 - Turk Broda, Toronto
19 - Terry Sawchuk, Detroit (17), Toronto (2)
18 - Patrick Roy, Montreal (10), Colorado (8)
17 - Martin Brodeur, New Jersey; Billy Smith, N.Y. Islanders [Tim Wharnsby,CBC.CA]

Here is a good article by Mark Spector - Kings a distracted team

It would appear that the Phoenix Coyotes are going to be staying in Glendale, Arizona. I know, I know, we have heard this one before – it will be interesting to see how this story plays out and if the Yotes are finally going to stay in Phoenix area.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Phoenix Coyotes' long wait for an owner might finally be over.

Glendale's City Council approved a 20-year lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena on Friday, clearing the last major hurdle in the sale of the Coyotes to a group led by former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison.

The council ratified the 20-year, nearly $325 million agreement by a 4-2 vote after a sometimes-contentious six-hour meeting attended by Jamison, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly.

"We've been doing this a long time," Bettman said. "We believe this team, the Coyotes, can be here with a new ownership in place and should be here."

One of the questions facing the Kings and Devils is fatigue - Kings Fighting Fatigue, as Well as Devils

Apparently Jaromir Jagr is coming back for another season in the NHL and is close to resigning with the Flyers...

The New Jersey Devils Power Less Play went 0-15 before Parise scored on Saturday night for the Devils to give them a 1-0 lead in game 5.

Stanley Cup finals hot topic: Give 3 reasons why Devils will win Game 6

The New Jersey Devils are still in a tough spot being down three games to two.

Tom Gulitti, Fire and Ice --- “I don’t see any reason why we should be overconfident or satisfied,” Devils captain Zach Parise said. “We’re still down 3-2. We’re still in the same spot we were. One loss and we’re done. I think just having gotten a couple wins, we’re playing with more confidence, but I don’t think that’s making us feel overconfident.

We still know how great of a team they are and how much better we need to play to make this thing even go further.

Playoff links – Lord Stanley Cup is on the line

Boston Bruins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I think the Washington Capitals are going to have a hard time matching the Boston Bruins grit and toughness. The Bruins play their best when they're playing a rough and tumble brand of hockey. Just ask the softer Vancouver Canucks who were brutalized by the Bruins last season.

Katie Carrera, Washington Post --- The Bruins – or if you prefer, the big, bad Bruins – have a reputation for toughness. Their brand of hockey comes with physicality and snarl. They like to push teams around between whistles and get under opponents’ skin afterward.

While fighting isn’t really common in the playoffs, one doesn’t need to drop the gloves to be tough to play against and physically dominate a contest or series. Boston’s knack for such things precedes it, but the Capitals believe they can hold their own.

“I think we’re alright,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “I think we’ve got a lot of guys that can throw the body around, too. We’re not a team like them where we come out and always do that, but we do that when we need to — and we’re going to need to in this series.”

The TD North Garden is a tough play for visiting team to play on any given day. Pierre LeBrun from ESPN looked at the five toughest arenas to play in druing the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

4. Boston Bruins Well, I guess you can ask the Vancouver Canucks to vouch for whether playing in Boston is any fun. The Canucks were destroyed in three games in Beantown during the 2011 Cup finals, which reinforced what a tough place it is to play in especially come playoff time. The Bruins are the NHL's toughest, most rugged team and that meshes well with a New England crowd that likes its hockey that way. All of which makes for an electric, and intimidating, atmosphere.

Former NHL Official Kerry Fraser is concerned about inconsistency in today’s NHL Refs. Well that makes two of us. I thought the officiating in last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs was bad, but could have been worse. I hope we don’t have anyone biting anyone this year.

As the NHL playoffs kick off this week, Kerry Fraser says he’s concerned about inconsistency in today’s refereeing.

“Right now, the game is very fast and it’s hard for young officials without the experience to keep up with the pace,” said Fraser, who retired a year ago as the most senior referee in the National Hockey League.

During the playoffs last year, too many refs were inconsistent when it came to major infractions, said Fraser, who officiated for 30 years. And the supplementary discipline doled out by the league hasn’t helped.

“There were head shots when players were sometimes suspended and sometimes not.

“The referees became confused seeing what was happening upstairs with suspensions or lack of, and it created inconsistent officiating,” Fraser said.

The "media" is still concerned about Timmy Thomas missing the White House event. Can we just play hockey? I could care less if Thomas takes a stand on his personal Facebook page or has a political message on the back of his goalie mask. The last time I checked Thomas was an American Citizen and is afforded the right to free speech. [Boston Globe]

Reporter: "Given the setting, that's it's in D.C., is there any concern on your part about the White House stuff getting kicked up and all that stuff …"

Thomas: "Thanks guys, we finally got somebody to get me out early."

The Washington Capital have issues in net right now. [Boston Globe]

Assuming Tomas Vokoun (groin) and Michal Neuvirth (leg) won’t be ready for Game 1, 22-year-old Braden Holtby will get the call to start the playoffs between the pipes. Holtby has never appeared in an NHL playoff game.

Holtby will be backed up by Dany Sabourin. The Capitals recalled the ex-Bruin from Hershey today.

Stanley Cup playoffs 2012: Alex Ovechkin vs. Zdeno Chara matchup could affect Capitals-Bruins outcome ...

Here are the various prediction on the series between the Bruins and the Capitals. Anyone who has seen the Capitals play know that they have a lot of fire power and I don’t think the Boston Bruins will be looking past anyone.

Dan Steinberg, Washington Post --- NHL.com doesn’t provide game predictions, but all seven of the site’s writers say the Bruins will win the series.

The NHL Network’s Craig Button agrees, although his colleague E.J. Hradek took the Caps. (Two out of four NHL.com international writers also took the Caps, for what that’s worth.)
Both of CBS Sports’s “Eye On Hockey” writers take the Bruins. TSN’s Scott Cullen says Bruins in six. Yahoo’s Nick Cotsonika says Bruins in six. The Toronto Sun’s Chris Stevenson says Bruins in six. Sporting News’s Jesse Spector says Bruins in five. Canadian site SportsNet says Bruins in five. And four of five Pro Hockey Talk writers say Bruins in 5, with the fifth, Ryan Dadoun, taking the Caps in 7.

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