Sidney Crosby Accused of Cheating in Face Off Circle
The Pittsburgh Penguins hold a 2-0 lead in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals over the San Jose Sharks as the best of seven series shifts to the West Coast and San Jose for Game 3 on Saturday.
San Jose player Logan Couture is either trying to deflect the spotlight from his team trailing 2-0 in the series or he is dead serious when he said this week that Sidney Crosby the Penguins captain cheats on face offs.
Couture following Game 2’s overtime loss of 2-1 to Pittsburgh said that Crosby cheats. He told reporters that Crosby is able to get away with cheating because he is Sidney Crosby.
Couture’s accusation was directed at how successful Crosby has been in face offs in the first two games of the series winning 26 of his 40 draws.
That includes an impressive 17 out of 24 during Game 2, with none bigger than his last face off that led to the eventual goal that won the game and added to the lore of Crosby.
Prior to the drop of the puck, Crosby changed the play set for Pittsburgh off the draw, directing Conor Sheary to make a pivot from his normal face off spot following the draw and move into the high slot, where San Jose would not be expecting him.
Crosby told his teammates he would win the final draw directing it back to Kris Letang a defenseman who could then pass to Sheary for an open shot.
Those events are what unfolded, as he directed the draw back to Letang, who passed the puck to Sheary who was wide open and ripped a shot over the outstretched glove of Martin Jones the Sharks goalie for the OT win.
Couture claims Crosby times the linesman and is not kicked out of the circle likely due to who he is.
Crosby was victorious in 71% of his Wednesday face offs during Game 2. To put that into perspective, the best percentage for a face off over an entire regular season is held by Chicago’s Jonathan Toews at 58.5%.
This past regular season, Crosby ended at 51.5%.
According to a number of reports, Crosby was one of just six players on the Penguins to practice between the first two games of the series. The practice was optional.
He apparently spent a long time during the practice working on face offs against Eric Fehr a teammate. He likely does not cheat, he is just darn good.
