"We've been practicing at home for this," the Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman said. "We got here early today. She was a good-luck charm."
Falan's good luck appeared to help her father during an 18-second span in the second period, when he made two goal-saving plays to protect a one-goal lead against the Florida Panthers.
With the Panthers on a power play after Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman was called for interference at 6:37, Sam Reinhart took a shot from the point into traffic that deflected into the blue paint, and McDonagh quickly swept it out of danger and into the corner at 8:26.
Then at 8:44, just after the penalty expired, Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau received a perfect cross-ice pass from Aaron Ekblad and was staring at an open net with Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy out of position, but McDonagh stretched out and barely deflected the puck with his stick to send it over the net.
"It's kind of just a desperation thing," McDonagh said. "Obviously very fortunate. Who knows if 'Vasy' would have even, maybe got over there and got a piece of it too, so it's just the way our group goes about it. You do whatever you can to help the team win, and that was, like I said, very, very fortuitous."
The plays proved to be a turning point. At 10:23, Steven Stamkos scored to extend the Lightning lead, and they ultimately won 5-1 to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.
Tampa Bay can complete the sweep in Game 4 here on Monday (7 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"Our group's great about understanding situations within the game," McDonagh said. "Big moment, there is a big opportunity for them. We killed it off and shortly after that we put the puck in the net, so huge swing there. And I think our group on the penalty kill] as a whole wants to thrive on being difference-makers for us."
***[RELATED: [Complete Panthers vs. Lightning series coverage]*
Lightning coach Jon Cooper said he has seen McDonagh do it all this time of year, whether it's blocking shots, clearing pucks, playing tight defense or joining in on the rush. It helps explain why McDonagh has been to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of his 12 NHL seasons (five with the Lightning, seven with the New York Rangers).
McDonagh had an assist, was plus-4 and blocked three shots in a team-high 23:21 of ice time in Game 3.
"With McDonagh, there is the reason he's played in so many playoff games in his career," Cooper said. "Because he's like ... a star, and those plays you make when you don't have the puck are sometimes the biggest ones.
"That was clearly a big one for us because we eventually kill that off and come out and make it 3-1, so that's a little bit of a bubble-burster for them."
