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Pens coach Sullivan says Crosby's not cheating - at least, not more than Sharks

Thursday, 06.02.2016 / 1:05 PM / News

The Canadian Press

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Pens coach Sullivan says Crosby's not cheating - at least, not more than Sharks

Coach Mike Sullivan says that if Sidney Crosby is cheating in the faceoff circle, so is everyone else.

The Pittsburgh Penguins coach defended his star centre on a conference call on Thursday against charges from some San Jose Sharks that Crosby has been getting away with mischief in the faceoff circle.

Crosby won a draw in the San Jose zone that led to Conor Sheary's game-winning goal in overtime on Wednesday to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup final. San Jose forward Logan Couture said Crosby is given a pass by officials "because of who he is," while defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said he "should have been kicked out" on the decisive draw.

The Sharks may have been trying to get officials to watch Crosby more closely on faceoffs, but Sullivan said he is not worried.

"All centres that go in and take faceoffs are trying to get an edge," said Sullivan. "That's just the reality of it.

"They're doing the same things that our guys are doing. The way I look at it, that's all part of being a centre-iceman and trying to figure out ways to get an edge and be successful. Sid's not doing anything that their guys aren't doing. Quite honestly, it really isn't worthy of a response. My main focus is our group and our mindset going into Game 3. We want to make sure we focus on the task at hand."

Game 3 is set for Saturday in San Jose.

Crosby called the play that led to the game-winner to his teammates on the ice. He drew the puck back to Kris Letang who, instead of shooting, found Sheary open in the slot.

"He's a great leader," said Sullivan. "He takes charge of his line; he takes charge of situations on the ice.

"He's reading in the true sense of the word and that was just an indication of it in the overtime."

He also had high praise for Sheary, a 23-year-old rookie who has been put on Crosby's line despite all the attention and expectations that come with it.

"He's had a whirlwind of a year with being called up and sent down a few times," said Sullivan. "But each time he's been called up he's brought more of a level of consistency to his game and has brought more of a contribution.

"I can't say enough for what he's done for us in the post-season. He plays a lot of critical minutes for us."

The Penguins dominated most of the first two games, but the Sharks made an impressive push in the third period that led to the tying goal from Justin Braun with 4:05 left in regulation time.

Sullivan expects more of the same as the series shifts to San Jose, where Sharks coach Peter DeBoer will have last line change.

"These are two pretty good hockey teams going at it," said Sullivan. "There are times we have momentum and territory and zone time and, when San Jose makes a push, they have good players and they're going to try to do the same.

"That's the way the first two games have played out. I really like how our team's played. When we've had defensive zone time, we've defended extremely hard as a group. My main goal here is to make sure we get through those momentum swings without getting hurt and I think our guys have done a really good job in that regard."

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