Capitals’ ‘hockey nerd’ Dylan Strome changes the game with his brain

Sports

add

ARLINGTON, Va. — If the Washington Capitals’ game-tying goal on Sunday night told us something about Tom Wilson, their game-winner told us something about Dylan Strome.

The Capitals are one victory from eliminating the Montreal Canadiens from the Stanley Cup playoffs — Game 5 is Wednesday at Capital One Arena — and they’re in the catbird seat thanks in no small part to their No. 1 center.

Wilson’s window-rattling physicality, courtesy of a hit on Alexandre Carrier, changed the game’s tenor when Washington was down 3-2. Strome, though, helped bring it home, setting up Andrew Mangiapane for a high-shot snipe that put the Capitals up 4-3 with 3:37 remaining.

The play, Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said, is Example A of Strome’s own distinguishing trait: an ability to think the game at a high level. He’s shown that for the last few years, and he showcased it in Game 4, taking a pass from Trevor van Riemsdyk around the red line, gaining the zone and drifting toward the top of the left circle. Montreal defensemen Arber Xhekaj and Kaiden Guhle followed, Strome left a puck for Mangiapane, and that was that.

“He knows exactly what he’s doing in that moment,” Carbery said on Wednesday. “There’s chaos going around. He drags that puck and draws two defenders.

“Montreal may say: ‘Well that’s a terrible read by our D. We shouldn’t have duplicated on him.’ That’s Dylan Strome also knowing, ‘If I drag this puck over to the weakside D, I can bring them both to me and create space for Andrew Mangiapane.’ And so that’s a prime example of his hockey sense and intelligence offensively with the puck right there. He slows the game down.”

Strome, 29, has grown into a high-end offensive producer for the Capitals. It’s not just those career-high 82 points in the regular season, either. According to All Three Zones’ tracking data, he was well above average in the regular season in both scoring chances per 60 minutes (6.3) and scoring chance assists per 60 (4.1). If Detroit’s Dylan Larkin is the dividing line between the upper and lower tiers of first-line centers — and he probably should be — Strome has him beat in both categories. He’s also truly elite at generating shots off the forecheck (15.7 per 60); Aleksander Barkov led the league there in the regular season (16.8), and Auston Matthews had Strome beat by a tick. That’s the end of the list.

“For the casual fan, he’s not going to wow you with speed, his shot. You watch him and go, ‘OK, well, what does this guy do?’” Carbery said.

“But if you really watch him, his mind for the game, especially offensively, is so elite.”

Understandably, Strome takes a bit of a back seat in terms of attention. One of his linemates commands plenty — but it’s fair to assume that, without a center as offensively capable as Strome, Alex Ovechkin would’ve needed another season to set the NHL goal record.

Capitals defenseman Jacob Chychrun, almost to the word, echoed Carbery.

“(Strome is) so smart,” Chychrun said Tuesday. “He slows the game down for us when we need it and just makes really high-end plays. He can be a guy that breaks a game open for us, or if we need a play, he’s a guy that’s willing to make it and pick his time and place and commit. When the play’s there to be made, he’s going to make it.”

He’s also proof that players can continue making fairly drastic improvements into their late 20s. Strome has been a top prospect, a stalled prospect, a point producer on a terrible team, a fringe first-liner and now certainly something more.

“People probably think like, ‘When is this going to stop? He had another career year,’” Carbery said. “He’s a hockey nerd, loves the game, always trying to get better, always trying to improve his game, always trying to look at ways that he can be one of the elite centermen in this league, and so he’s a very, very motivated guy that just continues to get better.”

• Aliaksei Protas, once again, was a full and active participant at practice. The 6-foot-6 winger brought goal scoring, high-end skating and substantive five-on-five play to Washington’s top six all season before a skate cut his foot on April 4. His presence, given the Capitals’ 3-1 lead and their ability to dictate matchups in Game 5, is probably a little less crucial than it would’ve otherwise been, but Washington clearly misses him, including on the penalty kill.

In 13 shorthanded opportunities against Montreal, Washington has allowed five goals. In the regular season, the Capitals were fifth in the league with an 82.0 success rate. Protas was a major part of that, finishing third only to Nic Dowd and Wilson among Washington’s forwards in shorthanded time.

“He’s got great hockey sense, has the ability to know where guys are without the puck and with the puck, so I think that allows him to clear the puck well, make plays to get out of the zone, whether that’s shooting it out or passing it out,” Dowd said.

“He’s fast, so he challenges guys down the ice, which I think is annoying for power-play guys. The last thing they want to do is play defense, waste their energy. And obviously, his arms plus his stick has got to be close to nine feet.”

Protas, as Dowd and Carbery both alluded to, was top-10 in the league in shorthanded shots per 60 and, according to Natural Stat Trick, seventh in individual shorthanded scoring chances per 60 among players with at least 100 minutes on the kill.

There are also other stats to consider, Pierre-Luc Dubois said.

“Probably our size and weight, and height and weight would go up quite significantly. He’s been great for us all season,” Dubois said. “He’s been one of our most consistent players all season, does a lot of good things for us, five-on-five and on the penalty kill, so it’d be great to have him back.”

• Dubois, aside from giving Tuesday’s money quote on Protas, also broke out a cross-sport reference.

“(Milwaukee Bucks coach) Doc Rivers once said, ‘The series doesn’t start ’til somebody loses at home,’ and that’s finally happened,” Dubois said. “So it’s our turn to win at home next game to close this series out. You never want it to drag. Obviously, they’re going to be playing probably their best game of the season.”

All true. Rivers, though, probably isn’t the best name to conjure for a team holding a 3-1 lead. He’s blown three of them.

(Photo: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

After rough first month with the Yankees, reliever Devin Williams takes a step forward

Sports

Next

trending_flat

Zinho indica time temido no futebol brasileiro hoje: “Toma goleada”

DESTAQUE