The Penguins take a commanding lead in the Stanley Cup Final and Mookie Betts can’t stop hitting dingers. Let’s get to those stories and much more — like a white tiger land surfing, and a dog playing the piano and howling — here at Thursday’s Cheat Sheet (Oh, and Game 1 of Cavs-Warriors NBA Finals is tonight)…
Penguins beat the Sharks in overtime to go up 2-0 in Stanley Cup Final; Logan Couture says Sidney Crosby “cheats”
The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night, to take a 2-0 lead in the series. The game-winning goal came on this wrister from Conor Sheary less than three minutes into overtime:
You may have noticed Sidney Crosby winning that faceoff, and he called the play off the faceoff that led to the goal. Much more on that, from ESPN.Com’s Scott Burnside:
But there he was, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain gathering his teammates before a faceoff in the early moments of overtime in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals. Crosby told Sheary to move from his normal position on the draw to the boards. He explained that he was going to win the draw back to defenseman Kris Letang and then Letang was going to give Sheary a pass in the middle of the ice, where the San Jose Sharks weren’t likely to expect him to be.
Conor Sheary followed the instructions. It’s Crosby, right? And Crosby won the draw and Letang feeds Sheary, who ripped home the game-winner.
He explained that they’d tried to get a lot of quick shots and one-timers away from the point and he figured the Sharks would be coming hard trying to get a block and maybe an odd-man rush the other way.
So he audibled.
Well, Sharks center Logan Couture said that Crosby “cheats” on faceoffs:
In Game 2, Crosby did not score but he did win 17 of 24 faceoffs, including the game’s biggest that earned him a secondary assist on the winner. He is 26-for-40 in the faceoff circle through the first two games of the series.
It’s an edge that irks some San Jose Sharks.
“He cheats,” Couture said. “He gets away with it. He’s Sidney Crosby.”
How so?
“He times them and they don’t kick him out for some reason, probably because of who he is,” Couture complained.
Whatever the case, the Sharks are now in a 2-0 hole as the series heads to San Jose.
Mookie Betts hit 5 homers in a span of 7 at-bats over the last 2 games
Mookie Betts is on goddamn fire.
The 23-year-old Red Sox outfielder hit three homers against the Orioles on Tuesday night, and followed that up with two homers in his first two-bats against the Orioles on Wednesday night. He hit those five homers over just seven at-bats, and now has 14 on the year (tied for seventh in the majors).
Video of Betts’ five bombs:
Despite his two homers on Wednesday, the Orioles still came out with a big win 13-9, trimming Boston’s lead over Baltimore to two games in the AL East.
Quick Hits
– Veteran MLB outfielder Marlon Byrd has been suspended 162 games (or, a full season) for failing a second PED test. That’s probably it for his career.
– Seven class of 2016 Baylor football signees have asked for their release. Good call.
– Awesome scene at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night for “Conquer Cancer Day”, as Craig Sager threw out the first pitch before the Cubs-Dodgers game, and then sang the seventh inning stretch.
– Speaking of the Cubs, they’re now 36-15 after Jon Lester tossed a complete game in their 2-1 win over the Dodgers last night, and it’s no surprise their entire infield currently leads the NL All-Star Game voting.
– The Padres’ executive chairman referred to the team as “miserable failures” lol. The Padres are currently 21-33, 11.5 games behind the Giants in the NL West.
– Nick Saban on Jackhammer Jim Harbaugh: “I don’t really care what he thinks or tweets.”
– ESPN is down 1.5 million subscribers, yikes. Streaming services taking over.
– The PGA is moving an event from Donald Trump’s Doral course… to Mexico City. Fantastic. Trolling 101, folks.
– As Joe Lucia writes, the recent investments from MLB organizations on Cuban ballplayers haven’t worked out too well.
– Shaq went undercover for Lyft and people didn’t recognize him. Consider me skeptical.
– Skateboarding, baseball, and surfing are in consideration for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
– Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal wore the wrong jersey.
– In very unsurprising news, a reunion event for Sons of Anarchy resulted in the cops being called on the cast.
– Sean Keeley wrote about season 2 of Bloodline. I just finished it last night, and loved it.
– Anrold Schwarzenegger got chased by an elephant in South Africa, and it wasn’t a movie.
One last breath of gratuitous procrastination
Imagine going to your local park on a Saturday afternoon and seeing a white tiger land surfing.
Screw it, one more breath of gratuitous procrastination
Not only does this awesome dog play the piano, but it howls along to the tune:
