NHL Star Players Shine: Mark Scheifele & Dylan Strome

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00:00What guys deserve a couple stars? I got to start with this one. Mark Scheifele. First

00:14of all, he's on one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now. Currently the 16th ranked

00:18player in the NHL, 24 points in 19 games, three game winning goals and a 26.7 shooting

00:24percentage and oh, by the way, yeah, he can score on the top goalies in the league. He

00:29was the one who continues to stay hot and finding the back of the net versus a guy named

00:32Igor Shosturkin, who is one of the best goaltenders out there per Rangers fans and a lot of other

00:37hockey fans out there, but this guy is just unstoppable. Picked up his ninth career hat

00:41trick versus the Florida Panthers and a comeback W six to three the other night. Then we talked

00:47about Avi being out four to six weeks, but this means that somebody's got to step up.

00:52Somebody's got to rise to the occasion. Well, Dylan Strom's been pretty tremendous in equal

00:55measure to what Avi has been producing for the Capitals, a team that couldn't score for

00:59crap last season, but it's found a way to find the back of the net more consistently

01:03this year, and I know to pick him as a star today. It's kind of testy. First of all, 28

01:08points in 19 games, plus 18 rating. He's sitting higher than Avi when it comes to the plus

01:12minus, and I love a good plus minus rating. Not a great performance last night versus

01:15the abs. We'll get into that in just a second, but five points in his last three games. He

01:19has been so consistent in either finding those passing lanes, creating those passing lanes,

01:23and his role is going to be even stronger with creating those passing lanes. I'm expecting

01:28him to be more of a leader, especially playing next to Alexi's protists because you've got

01:32some younger guys around him. They're going to have to get in the mix here, but he's going

01:35to have to be that that filler with the absence of Avi in the mix. Now, one of the issues

01:41is that playing on a new line, you're going against an avalanche team that their pace

01:44of play and their ability to just set up before you can blink. That's a tough team and a tough

01:49test to go against when the lines got to get thrown in the blender a little bit. So give

01:53the Capitals some time, but more importantly, still give Dylan Strowman his flowers because

01:56he's been great, and I think that he's going to step up just fine, keep this team on pace

01:59until their great leader returns. Then for another guy, I already alluded to this, Will

02:06Cooley. This is officially a Will Cooley show, account, stand, all the terminology that you

02:13want to use to back up Will. Yeah, this is it. He has been the ultimate clutch player

02:17for the New York Rangers. He has brought that third line to life. He has brought Kako to

02:22life. He has brought Hito to life. He has been such an energizer in a number of ways,

02:25and he's not even overcomplicating it. It's nothing too flashy. It's nothing too crazy.

02:30He's so gritty in front of the net and his ability to pick up rebounds and just keep

02:35the garbage out or clean it. It's been tremendous this season and crucial for the Rangers to

02:39stay in a number of contests. So you're talking about a guy 15 points in 18 games, seven goals

02:44sitting at a plus 13, one game winning goal and a lead contributor on the best line for

02:48the New York Rangers. May I say more? Okay, I'll say a little bit more. Just to put into

02:52context how strong this third line has been. You're talking about the only line for the

02:56New York Rangers where each player is sitting in a double digit plus rating. You got Cooley

03:00sitting at that plus 13. You got Hito at a plus 11. You got Kako sitting at a plus 12.

03:05And come on, we all tweeted about it the other day. You're seeing Kako smile again. You're

03:09seeing hockey come back to life for him. And that's going to be crucial for a team that

03:12expects to be in the postseason and make a bit of a bigger run.