Sheahan playing with plenty of confidence
By
Michelle Crechiolo
Penguins Team Reporter
At first glance, it could be difficult to understand why Sheahan was upset. He had scored early in the second period after also tallying in the Pens' 4-3 overtime win over the New York Islanders on Dec. 7, giving him goals in consecutive games for the first time in two years.
But taking a closer look at the scoresheet, Sheahan had also been on the ice for three of Toronto's four goals in just 6:38 minutes of ice time, which had him feeling down about his performance.
"It wasn't a game that I was happy with," Sheahan said. "I was on for a few goals against and just didn't play the way I wanted to."
That's when Mike Sullivan took Sheahan aside for a meeting, and instead of yelling and screaming and making him feel worse, the Pens head coach gave him some words of encouragement.
"He just reassured me what my role was and the opportunity that I was going to get," Sheahan said. "Then it just came to me and started to go from there. Not necessarily the points, but I think just playing the way I wanted to, and then the points started to come. Starting to feel a lot better now, and it's nice to contribute on the scoresheet, too."
Now, Sheahan has again scored in back-to-back games and overall, he has seven points (2G-5A) in his last eight games. But most importantly to Sheahan is that he isn't sacrificing defense for offense, as he hasn't been on the ice for any goals against in either of the games he has scored in.
"Things are clicking, so I think it's just important to keep going even when things don't go your way," he said. "Things are clicking right now, but even if you find yourself in a lull, you've just got to try and keep playing the same way."
Sheahan knows that from experience, as that mindset has been developed through a lot of personal adversity. Last year, the 26-year-old endured the most challenging season of his NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings, the organization that had drafted him in the first round (21st overall) back in 2010.
After hitting double digits in goals each of the previous two years - 13 in 2014-15 and 14 in 2015-16 - Sheahan didn't score in his first 79 games of the regular-season before netting a pair of goals in the final game at Detroit's historic Joe Louis Arena, his last appearance of the year.
"It's tough mentally. It's brutal," Sheahan said of that time. "You obviously aren't playing the way you want and you're not getting the results, then you have the outside world kind of chiming in and telling you the job you're not doing. It was tough."
At that point, Sheahan admitted that he was in his own head a lot and that he had to figure out how to not be so hard on himself.
"You just try to get out of your head and do things you enjoy outside of the rink and mentally give yourself a break," he said. "Sometimes it's hard, but it turns around eventually."
He began the 2017-18 campaign with the Red Wings looking to bounce back from his own individual struggles while helping the team get back on track after their historic 25-year playoff streak came to an end in the spring. "Not being able to contribute on a team that wasn't doing as well as it had in the past, it sucked," Sheahan said.
But just a couple of weeks into the year, Detroit traded Sheahan and a fifth-round draft pick to Pittsburgh in exchange for Scott Wilson and a third-round draft pick.
When Ian Cole first heard the news, he was thrilled. He had played with Sheahan for one season at Notre Dame in 2009-10; then skated with him every summer since at the college's annual pro camp. And even though Sheahan had been struggling, Cole knew what his former Fighting Irish teammate was capable of.
"When we traded for him, there had been some rumors before," Cole said. "When it actually happened, I was excited. I was really excited. I knew he had that season where he didn't have a goal all year until the last game. I would watch games last year and he would get chances, he just couldn't bury them. But without a doubt, when he got here, I knew that he had the skill to contribute not only in a defensive center role, but certainly offensively as well. He's big, he can skate, he's got hands, he can shoot the puck. He's a smart player. And now he has a ton more confidence."
But it took Sheahan a while to build that confidence back up. After it had taken a huge hit the previous season, it didn't help that this season didn't start as he would have liked, with Sheahan not scoring until his 20th game of the season. It also didn't help that he was dealing with the first trade of his NHL career.
"It was definitely an adjustment, and I just think in terms of outside the hockey rink, you've got to deal with finding a good living situation and you've got a lot on your plate," he said. "Then you've got to come into a whole new group of people and it's tough, but I mean, everyone was awesome. It maybe took me a little longer than I wanted to start playing the way I'd like to, but everyone's been awesome."
Especially Sidney Crosby, who Sheahan sits next to in the locker room. Whenever they can, the two of them just sit at their stalls - still in all of their equipment - hang out, and talk.
"The culture on this team I think is very unique and great at assimilating guys in quickly," Cole said. "Welcoming them in as soon as they get here and saying like, 'hey, let's go to dinner, let's do this.' And it all stems from Sid. He's the one that sets that culture.
"He's the one that sets that, 'hey, you're with us now, buddy. We could have been battling but we're on the same team now.' He's certainly the catalyst for that culture that brings guys in quickly, lets them know how we're going to do things and the style we want to play. Then guys seem to flourish in that."
Sheahan is certainly flourishing right now, and Cole pointed out the goal he scored in Sunday's 4-1 win over St. Louis as a perfect example of the confidence he's playing with.
© Scott Rovak/Getty Images
"I think you see that with the patience he shows with the puck," Cole said. "When he's protecting it, when he's going to the net, that goal he scored last night - a lot of guys would get the puck and then shoot it real quick. But he makes a nice move and he scores. All that stems from confidence."
Sheahan doesn't just have the confidence to make plays with the puck on his stick; he also has the confidence to assert himself vocally on the ice and demand for his teammates to put the puck on his stick, which isn't always easy in a group filled with superstars.
Cole described a situation where the opposing team dumped the puck into the Pens' zone, and he went back to retrieve it with a forechecker right behind him and another forechecker covering his D partner. That's when Sheahan came down low to help him out.
"You're looking to see who's open, and you hear Riley over your shoulder and he's like 'Middle! Middle! Middle!' Quick look and there he is," Cole said. "Bang, easy play. It breaks the pressure so well, you just can't make it blind. So when you hear that, you hear a guy calling for it loudly, demanding the puck, it makes it so much easier. And guys that don't have confidence don't do that. If you're going to tell a guy to make a play, it better be the right play. The way that he demands it and calls for it and lets you know he's available is huge and it helps us get out of our end so easily, so much better."
That's the 200-foot ability that Sullivan loves about Sheahan, and the coach is going to keep working with his center to help him continue building on what he's doing right now.
"There's a lot there, that's what we think," Sullivan said. "We're going to keep pushing Riley to try and get his game to another level because we think he's capable. He's a real good hockey player. What we love about him is his 200-foot game, and that's something we're looking for for that role on our team. He's not just a one-dimensional player, we think he can help us at both ends of the rink and he's been doing that as of late."
