RICH REWARDS
Brad thriving at playoff time
WASHINGTON — Tripleovertime thrillers, tired legs and drama. Brad Richards feels most comfortable during the pressurecooked NHL playoffs.
“It’s a different type of year, a different feeling — I love it,” the 11th-year center said after practice Friday at the Verizon Center. “I think not being in it for a few years, I appreciate it even more, because the greatest feeling we have as players is getting a chance to close out a series or overtime like the other ot er night, ght, with Gabby scoring.”
Richards took the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP on Tampa Bay’s 2004 Stanley Cup-winning team but had not been i n the playoffs since 2008 with the Dallas Stars. He has made up for lost time in his first season in New York, standing out as the Blueshirts’ most consistent and effective forward going into Game 4 Saturday afternoon against the Capitals, with the Rangers up 2-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Richards’ crisp pass from behind the net set up Marian Gaborik for the game-winner in Wednesday night’s 2-1 triple-overtime win in Game 3. Richards has a point on four of the Rangers’ seven goals this series (two goals, two assists), and leads the team with nine points through 10 playoff games.
“You can see, he kind of glows with confidence out there,” said fourth-line center John Mitchell, who had five shots on goal in Game 3 and a pivotal blocked shot shortly before Gaborik ended it. “He’s a playof f performer, and he wants to be out on the ice. He wants the opportunity to score the big goal or be involved in those plays, and he certainly can do it.”
Richards is fourth in the NHL in blocked shots among forwards (14), the Rangers’ primary faceoff man and has a l eague-high 43 shots on goal in the playoffs. This comes off a regular season when he put fewer on net (229) in a full season than he had since his rookie year of 2000-01.
“This year my shot totals were way down,” Richards said. “I think my shot totals are more where I’d want them to be on a regular basis now.”
Richards hasn’t been perfect. He has committed penalties with the score tied in the third period of the last two games, leading to Alex Ovechkin’s game-winning power-play goal in Game 2 and nearly costing the Rangers again on Wednesday.
But he is setting an example for a young group while also reenergizing Gaborik, as the two reunited on a line with Carl Hagelin late i n Game 3. The three likely will start that way in a Game 4 that the Rangers view as crucial, given how they coughed up a 2-1 series lead against Ottawa i n the first round before crawling back from a 3-2 deficit.
“Losing Game 4 against Ottawa deflated you a little bit
and it boosted their morale, then they came in and won Game 5,” Mitchell said. “We want to treat Game 4 as a must-win.”
PAYING THEIR RESPECTS: A group of Rangers players and st a f fers including Ryan McDonagh, Derek Stepan and Brian Boyle visited Arlington National Cemetery on the team's off-day Thursday, and one of the cemetery guards told Mcdonagh of Wednesday night's triple-ot marathon: "You kept us up all night.”