The Washington Capitals announced that center Dylan Strome learned his wife Tayler had given birth to their third daughter during the first intermission of Thursday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Strome recorded three assists in the Capitals’ 8-4 victory while processing the news from home.
“There was just so many emotions going through my mind. First of all, you want to make sure everyone’s OK, it’s a pretty scary thing. At the time of the first period, I kind of thought I was going to make it home in time, maybe. Obviously, that didn’t happen.”
The couple named their daughter Sutton Kimberley.
Strome said his wife “felt it” two hours before the 7 p.m. puck drop. She gave birth at 7:30 p.m., just 30 minutes into the game. He said there wasn’t any way to get back to Washington in time from Montreal.
The 27-year-old center talked about the sacrifices his wife makes while he’s traveling with the team.
“Really proud of her. It’s tough, and you obviously want to be there for the birth of your children and didn’t know it was coming this soon, but can’t wait to go see her. It’s something that I don’t think I’ll ever experience again, hopefully no one does, kind of just feeling helpless.”
Strome explained that his wife was already caring for their two young children at home when labor started.
“We got two young ones at home, and she’s taking care of both of them while I’m gone. I had to call in some reinforcements for her to go to the hospital. It’s a crazy thing that definitely hockey was not really on my mind going out for the first period, but I got the call after the first that she was there. So it’s incredible and I can’t stress enough how super proud I am of her.”
On the ice, Strome won a faceoff to set up Alex Ovechkin’s opening goal. He later fed the captain on a 2-on-1 to make it 6-4.
Ovechkin added an empty-netter for a hat trick. He noticed Strome’s performance from the opening shift.
“Since like first shift, I think Stromer was feeling it. I think he was unstoppable today.”
