Dan Girardi out of Game 2 with ‘whole body’ injury
New York Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi was basically atrocious in their Game 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He had a minus-13 Corsi for the game, and a 5-on-5 Corsi percentage of 46.15, the lowest for any Rangers player not named Tanner Glass. He was a minus-2 in 17:17 of ice time.
Bad playoff performances and Dan Girardi are really nothing new, but on Friday coach Alain Vingeault revealed that his defenseman is actually ailing. Girardi will miss Game 2 of the series on Saturday; when asked if it was a lower or upper-body injury, Vigneault smiled and said "it's the whole thing."
The Rangers will be without Girardi and Ryan McDonagh for Game 2. Dylan McIlrath will draw in to likely play with Keith Yandle, while Marc Staal’s new partner is Kevin Klein. Brady Skjei and Dan Boyle make up the other pairing.
So, in summary, perhaps addition by subtraction?
The good news for the Rangers is that Henrik Lundqvist participated in practice on Friday after leaving Game 1 after taking Staal’s stick to his face. That was the minimum requirement for him to play on Saturday, so it appears he might be good to go.
As for the Penguins, Marc-Andre Fleury may or may not play on Saturday. Evgeni Malkin, however, appears back in the lineup for Pittsburgh on what amounts to a third line. A third line with Evgeni Malkin on it. These guys are scary.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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