Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk holds his glove to his face after he was hit in the with a skate during the third period of an NHL hockey game in New York on Tuesday March 3, 2020. Credit: AP/Kathy Willens
CALGARY — His left eye is still swollen and purple and Johnny Boychuk estimated he’s got about “60 percent” of his normal vision.
But the Islanders defenseman, making his first public comments on Wednesday after requiring 90 stitches and plastic surgery when the Canadiens’ Artturi Lehkonen’s skate blade cut him on March 3, could only describe himself as “blessed.