Malkin: 'No words' for emotional ceremony celebrating 1,000th game

Evgeni Malkin said that he had been "crying every day" the last few days.

First came his 1,000th game in Chicago on Sunday, something Malkin said was a "very emotional night" for him. That night was full of surprises -- from Malkin's wife Anna and their six-year-old son Nikita being flown out by the Penguins for the game, to Nikita reading the starting lineup in the locker room before the game, to Malkin's teammates copying his stretching routine in warmups in a fun tribute.

Malkin felt so much love from his family, teammates, and the organization.

Since Malkin's 1,000th game happened on the road, the real celebration had to wait until Wednesday's game at PPG Paints Arena, a game that ended in Malkin scoring the winner in a 2-1 shootout win for the Penguins.

Before the game the Penguins surprised Malkin by flying in someone who is almost like family to help celebrate the day: Sergei Gonchar.

"It's surprising," Malkin said of seeing Gonchar. "The last three days, I'm crying every day. My wife and son came to Chicago, before the game I had no idea. Gonch came tonight, I had no idea too. It's lots of good things. I'm excited."

The Penguins also presented Malkin with a number of gifts throughout the day, including a new Rolex watch from his teammates:

PENGUINS / TWITTER

When the Penguins took the ice for warmups, they did so all wearing jerseys with "Malkin 71" on the back, and Malkin's alternate captain "A" on the front:

"Oh, I loved it," Malkin said of seeing his teammates all wearing his jersey.

Throughout the day on social media as well as on the videoboard during stoppages in play, the Penguins shared a flood of video messages from people congratulating Malkin on the achievement. Some of the best were from his family, including Nikita:

Malkin's parents and brother Denis couldn't be in attendance themselves, but all three surprised Malkin with their own messages of support:

"It's so much memories for my family," Malkin said. "I see my parents before the game, they gave me the quick words. I was a little bit nervous, almost crying."

A number of former teammates recorded messages, including Gonchar:

Marc-Andre Fleury:

Brooks Orpik:

Bill Guerin:

James Neal:

Ruslan Fedotenko:

Max Talbot:

Carl Hagelin:

Patric Hornqvist:

"I have lots of friends," Malkin said of the messages. "I played with lots of guys, many guys support me. I moved to America 17 years ago and I have so many friends here. It's amazing that we still talk to each other and are still friends. It's amazing."

Malkin received messages from some of his Russian national team teammates, including Alex Ovechkin:

Ilya Kovalchuk:

Pavel Datsyuk:

Many of Malkin's current teammates recorded their own messages.

Two of the more sentimental videos came from Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby, Malkin's teammates now for 17 years. Letang spoke of watching Malkin grow as a person over the years:

Crosby recorded a long message for Malkin, and ended it with the same words Malkin had for him on Crosby's 1,000th game night last season: "I wish you more goals, more points, more games, and of course, more Cups":

After warmups the Penguins brought Anna and Nikita onto the ice, with Nikita wearing a custom three-piece suit from Gentleman's Playbook for the event. Malkin and his family watched as the videoboard played a video highlighting some of the best moments of Malkin's long career, along with some of the more poignant words from the messages of support:

Malkin said that he was "so nervous" for the ceremony, but just thought that he had an "amazing life" as he watched the video.

The Penguins presented Malkin with a framed mosaic featuring pictures from each of his 1,000 games in the NHL:

PENGUINS / TWITTER

Crosby and Letang were the ones to present Malkin the customary forged silver stick to commemorate 1,000 games.

"The whole night was awesome," Crosby said of the tributes. "The whole day, the last few days, to be honest with you."

Malkin said afterward that he wanted to thank his teammates and the organization for all they did to celebrate him over these past few days.

"They gave me a special night and special gifts," Malkin said. "There's no words for this night. It's amazing."