Just one game left in the first half for the Caps, who lost back-to-back games in Minnesota and Colorado Tuesday and Wednesday – and for leading scorer Dylan Strome, all that means is water under the bridge and one last chance to get points before the break.
“After three losses in a row, sometimes you get a little bit down, but that's all right,” Strome said. “We got one more left before the break, and we're gonna get two points out of it.”
Strome played his 400th NHL game Wednesday and scored two goals to ‘celebrate,’ and while that’s always nice, it’s the team W that means more than anything.
But on that scoring tip, Strome has 18 goals in 46 games, and looks like he’s going to shatter his career-high of 23 set just last year – so what’s going right for him?
“I think just playing with good players, and our team was obviously isn't scoring a lot of goals,” Strome said. “I feel like being on the power play, being on the net front…when your team's not scoring goals, you're trying to get to the net as much as you can, because that's where good things usually happen. Just been trying to get there on the power play and trying to have some success wherever I can. I've been playing with great players, I've been getting lots of great passes, and for whatever reason this year, it’s happening. I'm thankful that I got to play with great players and the pucks have been going in, so hopefully I can keep it up, and get some maybe in the first period when they matter a little bit more.”
How important is the message from a new coach in that?
“I think it's hugely important. There's a lot of systems in hockey that, if one guy is kind of off or not on the right page, it can mess a lot of things up,” Strome said. “Simple things like, when they set up behind their net and we're in our trap breakout, we got one guy usually that's just around the top of the circles and then two guys behind them and then two guys behind them for D, and if the first guy is supposed to do something and he doesn't do it, the next two guys are kind of up, it's kind of like a trickle-down effect. So I think in that sense when you're not all on the same page, that's where a coach comes into play where you gotta know your systems, and the coach is the one that controls the ice time.”