Logan Couture believes Sidney Crosby ‘cheats’ on faceoffs

PITTSBURGH – The sequence that led to Conor Sheary’s overtime winner for the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night began with a Sidney Crosby face-off win, something he did 17 out of 24 times in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the San Jose Sharks.

What’s been the secret to the Penguins’ captain’s success in the dot? Sharks center Logan Couture had a thought following their 2-1 loss.

“He cheats. He gets away with that. He’s Sidney Crosby,” Couture said.

So how does he do it?

“He times them, and yet they don’t kick him out for some reason, probably because of who he is,” he added.

This postseason Crosby has a 52.7 percent success rate on draws, a tad better than in the regular season when he won 51.7 percent. As you’re probably wondering, Couture won all three of his draws versus Crosby in Game 1, but was only 1-for-4 in Game 2.

“Some nights you get some bounces, you get some more help,” Crosby said. “The 50/50 ones, you find a way to gain possession. I think you just stick with what you’re doing. It’s nice when things are working out. On a lot of those draws it’s those guys helping out.”

We see coaches work the referees by dropping complaints through the media before and after games. This might just be an attempt by Couture to get the officials working draws to keep an eye on how Crosby goes about winning them.

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy

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