Conor Sheary's Placement on Crosby Line Sinking Sharks While Silencing Critics

Watching the Stanley Cup Final, it’s almost hard to believe there were points in the postseason when there was reason to worry about Sidney Crosby’s line. Two games in, the top unit has delivered two stellar performances, even providing the game-winner in Wednesday’s 2-1 overtime win by the Penguins.

Conor Sheary scoring in both games is particularly worthy of note, and it has to be a relief to the rookie winger. But it’s somewhat remarkable Sheary is even still on Crosby’s line.

For much of the postseason, Crosby—the league’s best player—has struggled to put points on the board at even strength, and Sheary was the easy player to replace on that line. Patric Hornqvist is a proven offensive weapon on the right side, and with Phil Kessel shooting the lights out on Pittsburgh’s "HBK" line, there wasn’t a plausible replacement for him.

Sheary, in contrast, is an undrafted 5’8” winger in his first year in the NHL. Head coach Mike Sullivan could easily have dumped him in favour of Crosby’s longtime running mate Chris Kunitz or even in favour of Evgeni Malkin in a bid to get both of Pittsburgh’s star centres running at flank speed. Players with Sheary’s pedigree and stature can disappear from the league entirely without surprising anyone.

Yet for the most part, Sullivan has resisted temptation. He benched Sheary in the third period at this point in Pittsburgh’s third-round series against Tampa Bay, but he shrugged aside the decision the next day. Sam Werner and Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported his comments:

"

I thought it was a bit of a struggle for Conor last game, for whatever reason. Players go through that at times. We don’t think less of Conor because of that. He’s a big part of this team, we know it. He knows that we believe in him … By no means is [benching Sheary] a reflection on what we think of Conor or what he’s brought to this team. He’s certainly been a huge part of this team’s success and allowing this team to get to the point where we are right now.

"

By Game 6 of that series, Sheary returned to Crosby’s line full-time, and since then, he’s done nothing but confirm that Sullivan was right to put him back in that role.

Game	TOI	Corsi+	Corsi-	Shots+	Shots-	Goals+	Goals-
Game 6 vs. TBL	8.6	8	4	5	1	1	0
Game 7 vs. TBL	10.0	13	2	9	1	0	0
Game 1 vs. SJS	13.0	12	13	10	5	1	1
Game 2 vs. SJS	13.0	21	9	9	5	1	0
Total	44.6	54	28	33	12	3	1

In the 45 minutes Crosby and Sheary have spent together at even strength since being reunited, Pittsburgh has posted a 66 percent Corsi rating; outshot the opposition, 33-12; and outscored them, 3-1. Sheary now has two of those three goals, and it’s hard to imagine Sullivan entertaining any thought of breaking the unit up now.

Sheary’s speed and offensive skill (he had 36 points in 30 AHL games prior to recall) are a good fit for Crosby and add a different element to the line than what Hornqvist brings. The Swedish right wing has made his presence felt by going to the net in the Stanley Cup Final. On Wednesday, he had four shots and six hits. It was utterly unsurprising that he helped on the winner by providing a screen.

And, of course, there is Crosby. His biggest contribution on the winning goal was a won faceoff, one of 17 wins (71 percent) in the circle on the night. By my count, four of those 17 wins led directly to Penguins scoring chances.

All those wins left San Jose’s Logan Couture grumbling after the game. He implied to ESPN The Magazine’s Craig Custance that the officials were unfairly favouring Pittsburgh’s captain:

The success of the Crosby line, while hardly shocking, puts the Sharks in a tough position.

The Pens’ other goal Wednesday came from Kessel of the still-red-hot HBK line. With Crosby’s line now firing on all cylinders, San Jose has to find a way to shut down two talented forward units. Even assuming Malkin’s struggles continue (which is hardly assured since he had four shots in Game 2), those two lines alone might be enough to put the Sharks away.

San Jose’s coach made it clear after the game that he isn’t giving up.

“Let's hold off on the funeral,” Peter DeBoer said in his postgame press conference, per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. “We have a lot of hockey left to play.”

DeBoer is right, of course. The series now shifts back to San Jose, and the Penguins are only halfway to their goal. Yet they are unquestionably closer than a Sharks team that will need to win four of the next five games, a team that so far has had no answers for either of Pittsburgh’s dominant lines.

Statistics courtesy of Hockey Reference, the NHL and Natural Stat Trick.

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.