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Blackhawks' Richards ready to up his game for playoffs

It's been a rough season for Brad Richards.

The veteran center, whom the Hawks signed to a one-year deal in the off-season, never really got comfortable in coach Joel Quenneville's system and posted the worst numbers of his career. He had just 12 goals, including 2 on the power play where he was supposed to be a bigger factor considering he'd averaged 8 power-play goals in the previous four non-shortened seasons.

That's all in the past now, though, and Richards will try to put that behind him with the playoffs about to begin Wednesday in Nashville.

"I'm back again in another playoff, that's what's exciting about it," Richards said.

He's a veteran of 118 postseason games, including 25 last year when the Rangers advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Final in 2004 with Tampa Bay.

"Everyone knows I've played in the playoffs; this is just adding to that experience," Richards said. "Hopefully I can fill a role and chip in when needed and take my game to where I want it to be."

And for the Hawks, that would be in the groove he was in with linemates Kris Versteeg and Patrick Kane early in the season. From Games 5-26, Richards had 18 points (6 goals) as the trio clicked on nearly a nightly basis.

But in the 50 games he played in since? Richards managed just 1 more point, scoring the same number of goals.

No Vermette:

Andrew Shaw and Marcus Kruger centered the third and fourth lines, respectively, at practice Monday, which meant that Antoine Vermette was not with the top four lines. The Hawks gave up a first-round draft pick to snag Vermette from Arizona, but the veteran has been a major disappointment with no goals and 3 assists since joining the Hawks on March 1.

"Depth is something organizationally you need and some guys are ahead of other guys now based on performance we got to make decisions," Quenneville said.

Enough already:

The subject of the Hawks' four-game losing streak to end the season kept coming up Monday. The players couldn't care less about the skid, and Quenneville said that once the Hawks clinched a playoff berth, maybe a little steam went out of their engines.

"We've played well the last four games," Quenneville said. "(If) life and death was at stake and knowing that it was a playoff game, I think we might have come out with a different outcome in at least one of those games.

"But that's what the playoffs are all about. The regular season gets you to the playoffs."

He said it:

"There's a different level of energy for some reason that becomes available to the body. It's amazing what your mind can do with just excitement and a new beginning."

- Brad Richards on what the playoffs do to a player's mind

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