A resurgent Brad Richards leads the Rangers with nine points in 14 games this postseason. Richards, Derick Brassard and Carl Hagelin have scored four goals apiece. St. Louis, Benoit Pouliot and Mats Zuccarello have three each. ''I can't say enough about Brad,'' linemate Rick Nash said. ''I haven't been doing enough but he's been amazing.'' Richards has four goals and five assists. Nash is goalless in the post-season.

Brad Richards scored the game-winning goal in the Rangers' 2-1 victory over Pittsburgh in Game 7 of their second round series. Richards was relatively quiet in this series from an offensive standpoint, but he certainly stepped up when it mattered most. He now has four goals and five assists in 14 playoff contests.

Brad Richards was paired up with Rick Nash during Thursday's practice. Nash hasn't recorded a point since April 22 and Richards has been held off the scoresheet in three straight games. They aren't the only two Rangers players that have been slumping, but getting them going into particular is vital as New York looks to avoid elimination on Friday. Daniel Carcillo rounded out the line, but he might have been keeping Carl Hagelin's place warm as the latter didn't participate in the practice, but is still expected to play.

Brad Richards and the New York Rangers were held without a goal for the second straight game Monday as they dropped a 2-0 decision to the Penguins. Richards leads the Rangers in postseason scoring with seven points in these playoffs, but he and the rest of the Blueshirts roster has been held pointless in two straight games. The silver lining for Richards is that he has directed nine shots on net in those two contests, a sign he's still generating scoring opportunities.

Brad Richards got six shots on goal as the Rangers' offense dried up in their 3-0 loss to the Penguins in Game 2 on Sunday night. The Rangers lacked energy and sharpness throughout, which really doesn't bode well considering Game 3 is Monday night. On the plus side, it is at home. Still, in this one, look no further than the three failed power plays at the start of the first for the reason the Rangers lost this game, or at least failed to dictate the tone early on. The power play went 0 for 4 in the game, and it is now scoreless in its last 29 chances. Rick Nash had three shots on goal and took a penalty, and has yet to score a game in nine playoff games this season. He has just one in 21 playoff games with New York.

Penguins center Sidney Crosby and Rangers center Brad Richards go back a long way. The two stars are meeting in the second-round playoff series between, which opened Friday night with a 3-2 overtime win for the Rangers. When Crosby was a tyke, he attended a skating school every summer in Prince Edward Island. Richards, who is from Prince Edward Island, was a young instructor. Richards, who turned 34 Friday, is six years older than Crosby. "I definitely remember looking up to Brad," Crosby said. "He played [junior hockey] in Rimouski, where I [later] played. I definitely looked up to him growing up." Crosby made an impression on Richards, too. "He definitely stood out," Richards said. "You could tell he was above everybody he played with within probably three, four years of his age. He was just a sponge for information, always doing everything respectfully."

Brad Richards played a whopping 9:21 minutes on the power play Sunday. The Rangers were 1-6 with the man-advantage as second unit forward Benoit Pouliot scored the lone goal. After a big three point effort in Game 1, Richards did not garner a point in a 4-2 loss on Sunday.

Brad Richards' three-point game in the Rangers' playoff opener was particularly special given how little he played in the 2013 postseason. Former Rangers coach John Tortorella moved Richards to the fourth line and eventually removed him from the lineup entirely. Tortorella ended up getting fired and Richards already has more points in the 2014 playoffs than he had in the Rangers' entire 2013 playoff run.

Brad Richards was excellent in the Rangers' 4-1 win over Philadelphia in Game 1 of their first round playoff series Thursday night. Richards registered a goal and two assists in the victory, leading the way for a Blueshirts team that has struggled offensively all season. Mats Zuccarello, Carl Hagelin and Derek Stepan also found the back of the net for New York while Martin St. Louis picked up two helpers in the win.

Brad Richards is trying not to think about the possibility that this might be his last playoff run with the New York Rangers. Richards might be the subject of an amnesty buyout over the summer. "It's been in the back of my mind to a certain extent, it would be a lie if I said it wasn't there," Richards said. "But it's not affecting me or weighing on me, or having any impact on my preparation or my game." Richards will turn 34 in May and his contract comes with an annual $6,666,667 cap hit through 2019-20. This is the last summer that the Rangers will have the option of using an amnesty buyout, which is different from a normal buyout in the sense that it completely removes the player's cap hit from the team's books, to get out of the ugly final seasons of that deal.