Penguins take over first place
previous 15 before the Flyers game.
“I had a couple opportunities with the puck on my stick. I was able to stop in front and put those home. They both felt pretty good.”
Didn’t look too shabby, either.
Sheary’s first goal came on a two-on-one rush with Crosby, who took the shot from the right circle. Sheary backhanded the rebound past Flyers goaltender Petr Mrazek for a 3-2 Penguins lead at 14:25 of the second period.
The second for Sheary came after a terrific turnover created by Crosby. Guentzel fired a shot, and the puck deflected to Sheary, who finished while falling over from the bottom of the right circle for a 4-2 edge at 19:20 of the second period.
When Sheary is at his best, he has a nose for the net — and the talent to finish. Although they were a little different, they showed how he’s often able to score some broken-play goals from around the net.
Provided, of course, he’s not slumping.
“Hopefully, that will give him a big boost of confidence; it certainly should,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We know he’s a good player. We know we’re going to need him. He’s a guy who can score goals for us. He tends to be streaky. We hope he fills the net.”
There’s certainly recent precedent for that happening, and it occurred around this time a year ago. Sid and the Kids became a dynamic force, with three players who think the game extremely well, play a giveand-go style and can finish a variety of ways from all over the offensive zone.
Such traits were evident Wednesday, when Sullivan threw the three of them together after an early Bryan Rust injury — upper-body, he’s being evaluated — forced the coach’s hand.
“We all think the game well,” Guentzel said. “We read off of each other and go from there. It’s fun to be out there.”
As Sullivan has tried different forward lines, Sid and the Kids has been something he has resisted. Maybe it was Sheary. Maybe he wanted to utilize assets other ways.
Whatever the reason, there’s no way in the world he’s going to break them up now.
“We thought the line was dynamic,” Sullivan said. “It was really good [Wednesday].”
Crosby’s three assists helped him reach 1,100 career points. He’s the fourth active player with that many.
Meanwhile, the win — their third in a row — vaulted the Penguins (39-254) into first place in the Metropolitan Divison with 81 points, although the Capitals have two games in hand, the Flyers one.
This one appeared in doubt early in the second period. The Penguins gave up the blue line way too easily, mismanaged the puck some and got caught on some extended shifts.
That manifested itself in goals by Jake Voracek and Travis Konecny, but give the Penguins credit: They snatched the momentum back. For good, too.
It started with Jamie Oleksiak’s goal at 9:24 of the second period, his second in as many visits to Philadelphia with the Penguins.
That set the stage for Sheary, who until this point was playing on a fourth line with Riley Sheahan and Tom Kuhnhackl. It’s hardly what Sheary was accustomed to after scoring 23 goals last season, but it would’ve been tough to argue, too.
Sheary simply wasn’t producing. But he was staying positive.
“There are a lot of guys in this league who go through goal-scoring slumps,” Sheary said. “I’m not the only one. … Coming to the rink in a good mood and not bringing the team down are important things.”
Sullivan had a few conversations with Sheary, too. They’re both big baseball fans — Sheary was a speedy outfielder and leadoff hitter — and Sullivan came up with anappropriate analogy.
“Hall of Fame hitters in baseball go through slumps,” Sullivan said. “They don’t forgethow to hit.”