Conor Sheary Overtime Heroics

Every once in a while, a hero will emerge in the playoffs from a most unlikely source. It can be a goalie making a big save at the right time, it could be a big gun scoring when its needed most. In this case it was a kid playing in his first season in the big league that proved to be the difference. Conor Sheary found the back of the net three minutes into overtime to give the Penguins a 2-1 win and a 2-0 lead in the series heading back out West.

Everything started off on pretty even footing. San Jose actually found their skating legs early in this hockey game, something that they didn't really manage to do in game one. Pittsburgh still held an 11-6 advantage in shots in the opening period, but San Jose hung around and made a game of it. Both starting goalies, Matt Murray of the Penguins and Martin Jones of the Sharks, had to be good at the start. San Jose forward Tomas Hertl had the best chances for the Sharks, ringing a puck off the post on three different occasions in that opening period alone. San Jose got their chances early, but weren't able to connect and find the back of the net. So we headed into the opening intermission without a goal being scored.

To the 2nd period we go, things opened up a lot more. Pittsburgh once again took control of the hockey game, outshooting the Sharks 12-5 in the middle frame. Martin Jones had to make some fantastic saves, really keeping the Sharks in the hockey game. It's been pretty well documented that the "HBK" line has been really clicking for the Penguins all playoffs. They struck again in the 2nd period.  San Jose had trouble holding onto the puck leading to the Penguins goal. Roman Polak of the Sharks lost the handle on the puck, but got it back. He tried passing it ti Brenden Dillon, but Dillon got stripped of the puck by Carl Hagelin who gave it to Nick Bonino, who fired the puck on goal. The shot was tipped by a diving Polak, who tried to re-direct the puck away. He defelcted it but right to a crashing Kessel, who tapped the puck into the open cage at the 8:20 mark of the middle frame to give the Penguins the 1-0. For Kessel, it was 10th of the playoffs.

Moving into the 3rd period, San Jose finally found there skating legs again. The Sharks controlled the play, outshooting the Penguins 9-6 in the final frame. Scoring chances were abound for both teams, with each one hitting a goal post in the final frame. Malkin hit one for the Penguins, and Joe Pavelski rang one off the pipes for San Jose. The Sharks finally broke through with 4:05 left in the hockey game when Justin Braun bagged his first goal of the playoffs. It was a slapper from the top of the circle that beat Murray high over the glove. Murray never saw the shot, as he had bodies in front of him. Keep that fact in mind. Nobody else scored again and we went to overtime.

For the fifth time in the last six years, game two of the finals went into overtime. It took two minutes and thirty five seconds for this to happen:


For Conor Sheary, it was his fourth goal of the playoffs. Same thing happened on this goal that it did on the Braun goal, the goalie never really saw the shot, as they had bodies in front of the net. Pittsburgh now has a 2-0 series lead heading back to San Jose for game three on Saturday.

As mentioned before, this was the fifth time in the last six years that game two went to overtime:
2016 – SJS 1 at PIT 2 (Conor Sheary, 2:35 of OT)
2014 – NYR 4 at LAK 5 (Dustin Brown, 10:26 of 2OT)
2013 – BOS 2 at CHI 1 (Daniel Paille, 13:48 of OT)
2012 – LAK 2 at NJD 1 (Jeff Carter, 13:42 of OT)
2011 – BOS 2 at VAN 3 (Alexandre Burrows, 0:11 of OT)

Since the Final went to the best-of-seven format in 1939, teams that have taken a 2-0 series lead have gone on to capture the Stanley Cup 89.8% of the time (44 of 49 series), including each of the past two instances (2012 and 2014, LAK).