NHL

Fired-up Tortorella defends Rangers’ benched star

The bad news came with an early-morning phone call, as it often does.

When Brad Richards picked it up Thursday, the voice he heard was that of his coach, John Tortorella, telling him for the first time in his postseason career he would be a healthy scratch.

That’s what he was last night at the Garden, watching as the Rangers staved off elimination and beat the Bruins, 4-3 in overtime, in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal, getting the best-of-seven series to 3-1 going into tomorrow afternoon’s Game 5 in Boston.

“I don’t know if surprised is the right word,” Richards said at the morning skate. “Disappointed.”

After the game, Tortorella decided it was his turn to explain the decision without any filters.

“I think it’s important to spend a couple minutes on that out of respect for Brad,” Tortorella said about the former star center who won a Conn Smythe trophy for the coach in 2004 when they both won the Stanley Cup as members of the Lightning. “By no means is this a situation where I take him out and I’m blaming him.”

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By this time, Tortorella had begun to get frothy, and started to let all the venom about the criticism he had heard fly.

“Don’t put words in my mouth because I’m not blaming Brad, because he’s a hell of a hockey player that’s having a hell of a time,” he said. “I need to make decisions about what I feel is right for our team to win [last night’s] game, and that’s why I made that decision.”

Since Game 6 of the first-round series against the Capitals, Richards has been a barely-used fourth-line center, skating between rookie Chris Kreider and grinder Arron Asham.

Richards set career postseason lows in ice time during Games 2 and 3, playing 10:34 and 8:10, respectively. For Tuesday’s 2-1 Game 3 loss, Richards got just 5:58 of even-strength time.

When asked if it was hard to be effective in that reduced role, Richards was quick to answer succinctly, “Yes.”

The 33-year-old center signed a nine-year, $60 million deal with the Blueshirts before last season. The team has one more amnesty buyout remaining to use this summer or next, and if used on Richards it would clear his $6.67 million cap hit.

“Nothing’s over,” Richards said about his approach. “Work harder and try my best to not let it happen again.”

Richards finished the regular season with 11 goals and 23 assists in 46 games, his 34 points placing him third on the team. Yet in the first 10 games of this postseason, Richards had just one point, a goal coming in Game 4 of the first round when Capitals goalie Braden Holtby was out of position and Richards poured one in.

But Tortorella, with all of his competitive defensives raised, was going to be clear about where this decision came from and why he made it.

“Kiss my ass if you want to write something different, it’s not about that guy and it’s not about piling on,” Tortorella said. “This is my decision and I make it for the hockey club.”