Outplayed and outworked for the first three games of the series with the Boston Bruins, John Tortorella is not going to let his team fall into the abyss without putting his mark on the series.

He wants his team to play with more focus and better effort. He does not see the same intensity from his New York Rangers as he does from the Bruins.

As a result, Yahoo! Sports' Greg Wyshynski is reporting that he's decided to bench veteran forward Brad Richards for the fourth game of the series.

Richards is usually one of the team's most visible players. He is the second-highest-paid on the Rangers (behind Rick Nash) and he won the Conn Smythe Trophy for Tortorella in 2004 when both men were with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

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The Chicago Blackhawks are under the gun in their conference semifinal series.

The Detroit Red Wings finished as the seventh seed in the Western Conference and they did not appear to be in the same class as the Presidents' Trophy-winning Blackhawks.

Yet they have the upper hand in the playoff series with a 2-1 lead after three games.

If the Blackhawks are going to rally and move on to the Western Conference finals, expect Duncan Keith to play a leading role.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins dominated the Ottawa Senators Wednesday night with a 7-3 Game 4 victory to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the conference semifinals.

When the series shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Friday, the Penguins will have an opportunity to close out the series and clinch a berth in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the team hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2009.

The Senators have overcome a lot of adversity and proved a lot of doubters wrong this season, but erasing a 3-1 series deficit against a superior opponent is a nearly impossible task for this club. Erin Nicks of NHL.com talked to team captain Daniel Alfredsson about the challenge after the game.

Even still, though its Game 4 performance was remarkable in several ways, Pittsburgh's convincing victory over a young Ottawa team didn't solve any of the team's primary weaknesses.

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Every year we see players who unexpectedly make great contributions to their team's success in the NHL playoffs.

The atmosphere and pressure of the postseason often brings out the best in a lot of role players and rookies, many of whom are eager to make a name for themselves on the game's grandest stage.

Let's look at the five biggest surprise stars of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs thus far.

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The Vancouver Canucks were eliminated from the NHL playoffs in disappointing fashion in each of the last three years, and on Wednesday, the team decided to fire head coach Alain Vigneault.

Louis Jean of TVA Sports was the first to report the news, and then the team made it official shortly thereafter:

When the Canucks blew a 2-0 series lead in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final to the Boston Bruins and lost in seven games, the pressure on Vigneault to help the team capture its first championship increased dramatically.

Instead of improving, Vancouver followed its Stanley Cup Final appearance with two consecutive first-round playoff exits, which included eight losses in the team's last nine playoff games. Vigneault spent seven seasons as the team's head coach, but the Canucks advanced past the second round of the playoffs just once in that time.

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We have now reached the point where most of the second-round series in the 2013 NHL playoffs are at the halfway point.

With that said, it's now an appropriate time to assess which players are playing well at the most important time of the year, as well as those who are failing to meet expectations.

While certain stats such as goals scored and save percentage are often talked about at this time in the season, failing to do the little things (faceoffs, back-checking, etc.) consistently also has a major impact on the outcomes of playoff games. The players who contribute in all areas will set their teams up for success as the postseason progresses.

Let's look at who's hot and who's not midway through the conference semifinals.

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The New York Rangers were pushed to the brink of elimination on Tuesday when they lost 2-1 in Game 3 of their second-round playoff matchup with the Boston Bruins to fall behind 0-3 in the series.

After opening the scoring in the second period with a goal from Taylor Pyatt, the Rangers could not handle the Bruins' third-period surge, which resulted in two goals, one from defenseman Johnny Boychuk and another from fourth-line winger Daniel Paille.

New York will now try to become the fourth team in NHL playoff history to win a series after losing the first three games.

References will be made to the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals series between the Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers, which Boston lost in seven games after taking a 3-0 advantage.

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The 2013 NHL playoffs have provided hockey fans with some truly memorable moments, and we are only halfway through the second round.

As of May 21, 20 games have gone into overtime, and there were an NHL-record 17 games that needed bonus hockey in the first round.

The majority of the series played have been competitive, which is great for everyone. Five of the eight opening-round matchups went six or seven games, and five of the eight teams that made the conference semifinals upset a higher-seeded opponent in Round 1.

Let's look at a complete timeline of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs thus far.

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