A puck to the face couldn’t even keep Dan Girardi away from Friday afternoon’s practice in Greenburgh, let alone Game 2 Saturday night at the Garden.
“I tell myself I’ve seen everything, and now he’s playing through a puck in the face,” said captain Ryan McDonagh, Girardi’s top-pair defensive partner and the winning goal-scorer in Game 1.
Girardi’s right cheek along his jaw line is swollen, but he said his teeth and jaw are intact despite being hit with 9:29 remaining in Thursday night’s 2-1 Game 1 victory for the top-seeded Blueshirts over the second wild-card Pittsburgh Penguins.