McDonagh’s Defense Drives Tampa Bay’s Playoff Push

There are several things that Tampa Bay Lightning fans can point to as reasons why the team has been playing improved hockey from a season ago:

Jake Guentzel has delivered since arriving. Andrei Vasilevskiy is healthy. Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point, and Anthony Cirelli continue to develop as a core.

However, what can’t be diminished is the much-improved defensive play of this team, and no player is more responsible for that than veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh.

“A lot of people think of the Tampa Bay Lightning as scoring a bunch of goals,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told the media earlier this month, “but we’re doing it with defense.”

McDonagh was celebrated Saturday against the New York Islanders for playing in his 1,000th National Hockey League game against Utah on Thursday. What this season has shown is that 15 years into McDonagh’s career, the impact he is making is still significant.

“(McDonagh) played a lot better in his 1,000th game than I did in mine,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said following the 8-0 blowout of the Utah Hockey Club.

McDonagh is playing “a lot better” than a lot of defensemen this season, regardless of their age, and Tampa Bay has been the beneficiary of that play.

A year ago, Tampa Bay had to deal with losing defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to injury for all but 34 games, as well as Vasilevskiy being limited to 52 games due to injury.

The Lightning ranked 13th in the NHL in goals allowed per game (2.97) and gave up 268 goals during the regular season.

In the postseason, the team lost four of five games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida in the opening round of the playoffs.

Less than three weeks following that series, Tampa Bay General Manager Julien BriseBois addressed his team’s defensive issues by reacquiring McDonagh from Nashville for a couple of future draft picks, a move that appears, at this time, to have been a no-brainer.

With nine games remaining this regular season, the Lightning rank eighth in goals allowed per game (2.64) and have only given up 195 goals.

Shockingly, Tampa Bay has improved its goal differential from plus-23 a year ago (ranking 12th in the NHL) to plus-69 (ranking third).

“It just goes to show,” Cooper told the media on Thursday, “it really matters how you play in your own end. It does have an effect on how you play at the other end.”

The Predators can also attest to the impact of having McDonagh on the ice.

Nashville allowed 3.12 goals per game a year ago with him and is allowing 3.22 goals per game this season.

“(McDonagh) is a rare breed of warrior,” Cooper said. “He’s got skill. He’s got brains.”

There may be no better measure of the positive impact of a player than the plus-minus category.

The 35-year-old McDonagh ranks second in the NHL in that category with a career-best plus-40, just three points behind 24-year-old Washington center Aliaksei Protas.

Earlier this season, McDonagh was recognized as a member of the “Quarter-Century Teams” by both the Lightning, as well as the New York Rangers, whom he played for through the initial eight seasons of his career.

“(McDonagh) is nails as a guy,” Cooper continued, “and everybody knows it.”

McDonagh has tallied four points in the last three games (all Lightning wins). He has 28 points (three goals and 25 assists) this season and will most assuredly top last season’s 32 points. If (when) he does that, McDonagh will have his most productive offensive season since registering 46 points during the 2018-19 season.

At 35, durability is a natural question for any player, let alone a defenseman. However, McDonagh has played 73 games this season and hasn’t missed any significant time on the ice since the 2019-20 season.

Even taking a hard shot to the ear in a recent game against Dallas didn’t set him back. He played 19:45 just 48 hours later in a road game against Utah.

“I’ve been pretty fortunate to witness three (1,000 game celebrations),” Cooper said of being with the team for Steven Stamkos and Hedman’s celebrations, “and when you’ve been around that long, you’ve got some good qualities about you.

“Not only with your playing ability but also how you are as a guy. ‘Mac’ is at the top of the list.”

McDonagh is under contract at $6,750,000 through the 2025-26 season.

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