Sheary sends Pens closer to victory

Conor Sheary has had an excellent season. It started with him playing in Wilkes-Barre Scranton and started his stint with the Penguins shortly after Sullivan was hired. Sheary joined on the 15th December and after a decent rookie season with 7 goals and 3 assists in 44 games he has improved in the play offs. Sheary currently has 4 goals and 5 assists in 19 post season games.

The Sharks going into this game were saying all the right things, mentioning the need to make adjustments and you could sense that they would come out all guns blazing to tie the series up going back to San Jose. But, based on the first period, you would be forgiving for thinking that. Pittsburgh again controlled the first period limiting the Sharks to just 6 shots. The Penguins could have taken the lead on the power play after Paul Martin committed a delay of game penalty but the Penguins power play sucks.

The Penguins pressure comes from their speed and depth. Once you think you have gotten rid of one player, another takes their place and continues the forecheck. This was evidenced perfectly on Phil Kessel's opening goal just over 8 minutes into the second period. Dillon was caught on the puck and stripped by Bonino. His pass met Hagelin who managed to pull Jones out of his crease, his cross pass to Kessel gave him an open goal to score into.

The Penguins continued to out do the Sharks on the shot count but the Sharks dug deep, they were perhaps unlucky not to score earlier than the second period through Hertl's diving wrap-around which came off the post. However, they did level the game through Justin Braun with just 4 minutes left. Braun's father in law passed away recently so the emotion for him must have been something. The game really could have gone any way from that point but the Penguins did enough to win it in overtime.

The Penguins had to take their timeout early in the overtime period due to early pressure by the Sharks. But, it was won on a play set up by Crosby off an offensive zone face-off. After winning the draw Crosby played it back to Letang who, instead of shooting, passed it to Sheary into an open spot. His shot went over the shoulder of Jones and into the top right of the net to send the arena into a pandemonium and give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.

The Penguins deserve to be up 2-0. Their speed is giving the Sharks fits but this series is far from over. The Sharks could easily win both games at the SAP Center. They've only lost two games there in the play offs this season. The Penguins are a strong team away from home though. If the Pens win Game 3, then I think we can start believing.