McDonagh honored by Lightning for reaching 1,000 NHL games

Ryan McDonagh was honored by the Tampa Bay Lightning for playing 1,000 NHL games with a special ceremony before their 5-3 win against the New York Islanders at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

The defenseman reached the milestone Thursday, an 8-0 victory against the Utah Hockey Club.

The ceremony started with a video message from his family, followed by a special video of his career highlights, narrated by his dad, Sean.

The two-time Stanley Cup champion was joined by his family at center ice for the ceremony, including his parents, brothers, wife, two daughters and his son.

After the video messages, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point brought out flowers for McDonagh’s mom and wife, before another video message played on the big board from his former teammates.

Retired defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk then delivered McDonagh with a commemorative NHL crystal and Victor Hedman gave him a Rolex watch and a golf trip to Ireland.

The ceremony wrapped up with McDonagh receiving his commemorative silver stick. Then, Lightning mascot ThunderBug delivered mini silver sticks to McDonagh’s kids.

McDonagh’s teammates got in on the celebrations during warmups, wearing special jerseys with “MacTruck” on the nameplate and “1000” as the jersey number.

During arrivals, some Lightning players wore T-shirts for McDonagh’s big day.