Slam! sports blog

NEW YORK – You could see it coming, but it’s still a shock when it happens.
Forward Brad Richards, two years into a nine-year, $60 million deal, will be a healthy scratch for the New York Rangers elimination game against the Boston Bruins tonight at Madison Square Garden.
Richards, who played less than six minutes of even-strength hockey on the fourth line in Game 3 Tuesday as the Rangers fell behind 3-0 in their Eastern Conference semifinal, said he got a call from Rangers coach John Tortorella this morning with the news.
“I don’t know if ‘surprised’ is the right word, just disappointed,” said Richards, whose skating just hasn’t allowed him to be a factor in the playoffs.
He has one goal in 10 playoff games and is -3.
His play and his contract make him a candidate for the Rangers’ remaining amnesty buyout under the new CBA (they exercised one on defenceman Wade Redden already), but Richards said he hopes it won’t come to that.
“Nothing’s over,” he said. “(I’ll) work harder and try my best to never let it happen again.”
It looked like Arron Asham could be a scratch for tonight, too, with Kris Newbury, Micheal Haley and Ryane Clowe all coming off the ice early from the Rangers morning skate.
Veteran defenceman Roman Hamrlik is likely to replace the injured Anton Stralman on the Rangers blue line.
Despite being up 3-0, the Bruins aren’t taking anything for granted. They blew a 3-0 series lead against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 in the second round – just the third time in NHL history that’s happened – and were up 3-1 on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round this year only to see the Leafs force a seventh game.
“If you give the other team life, you saw what happened with the Leafs and with the Flyers three years ago,” said Bruins forward Milan Lucic. “A lot of our focus is on not being complacent.”

Here’s what we know: We are headed back to Pittsburgh.
Don Brennan, Errol McGihon and Le Droit sports editor Marc Brassard will jump into a rented SUV Thursday morning to head back to Steeltown.
If you think we’re the only ones behind the wheel we’re not. The guys across the street and Roy MacGregor of the Globe will be in another vehicle. Driving to Pittsburgh can provide better connections than flying.
What position will the Senators be in?
Tied 2-2 or down 3-1?
Hard to say. The Penguins are a champion calibre team. They can handle adversity. They’ve proved it in the past. They did it to get here. I’m not sure they’re exactly facing any here. They lost a game. It took five periods.
In my eyes, the Senators have to play better in this series.
They’ve never led. They are playing with fire here and they don’t have the firepower the Penguins have. There has been no respect shown to Tomas Vokoun, but he’s a heck of a goalie with a strong track record.
You cannot expect _ or want _ Craig Anderson to make 50 saves every night. He needs some support. The Senators were only 30 seconds away from disaster, 30 seconds away from everybody holding off on making any plans from going back to Pittsburgh.
The Senators have booked the trip with the win Sunday. If they can win Wednesday they can make it worth their while. Otherwise they’ll be back on the brink and fighting for another chance to come home Sunday.
Big test. We’ll check in with you from Pittsburgh.
It’s a long road ahead getting there but we’ll find out if there’s a long road ahead for the Senators.