Rangers Bench Brad Richards for Game 4 Brad Richards will not be in the lineup Thursday night when the Rangers play an elimination game against the Boston Bruins in their N.H.L. Eastern Conference semifinals series at Madison Square Garden. The Bruins lead the series, three games to none. Richards confirmed after practice Thursday that he would not be playing in Game 4. He said Coach John Tortorella called him Thursday morning to tell him he would be a healthy scratch. An assistant captain and one of the team's highest-paid players, Richards has struggled throughout the season and the playoffs. After starting the season on the team's top line with Rick Nash and Marian Gaborik, Richards had been playing on the fourth line recently. He finished the regular season with 11 goals and 23 assists, but has only one goal in 10 playoff games. A fixture on the Rangers" dismal power-play unit, Richards played only 8 minutes 10 seconds in Game 3 on Tuesday. Richards signed with the Rangers as a free agent in 2011, agreeing to a nine-year, $60 million contract. He carries a $6.7 million cap hit this season. By joining the Rangers, Richards was reunited with Tortorella, his coach in Tampa Bay when the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2004. Richards earned the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the playoffs" most valuable player. The first sign that Richards would be out of the lineup came after practice, when he stayed on the ice to skate with other players who are injured or possibly scratched, including Darroll Powe, Arron Asham and Chris Kreider. Richards, Asham and Kreider had constituted the Rangers" fourth line in the Bruins series. Richards, 33, looked dejected as he spoke briefly with reporters afterward. Asked if he was surprised by his benching, he said: "I don't know if surprised is the right word for it. I'm disappointed. Asked if it was hard for him to be effective on the fourth line, he said yes. Asked about his approach moving forward, he said, "Nothing's over, work harder and try my best to never let it happen again." And then he left. With the Rangers" season on the brink, Tortorella has shaken up his lineup, partly out of necessity because of a slew of injuries. With defenseman Anton Stralman out after sustaining an injury in Game 3, the Rangers activated 39-year-old Roman Hamrlik, who has not played since April 1. Kris Newsbury and Micheal Haley, who have one playoff game between them this season, are also expected to play Thursday. But Richards's benching sends a message that the Bruins, at least, are not taking lightly. "I think that will wake up their team and realize that they have to play harder," Bruins forward Daniel Paille said of Richards's scratch. An earlier version of this article misspelled the given name of one of the Rangers' players who is expected to be in the lineup for Thursday's game. He is Micheal Haley, not Michael.