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Little-known (and little) Sheary leads Penguins

 
Published Jan. 23, 2017

PITTSBURGH — Conor Sheary is in the midst of a career-best stretch, and he enjoyed another big game against his hometown team.

The Pittsburgh forward scored two goals, Sidney Crosby added his league-leading 28th and the Penguins won their fourth straight game, 5-1 over the Bruins on Sunday.

"It's fun to play against your hometown team," said Sheary, a native of Winchester, Mass. "There's a lot of people watching, and you kind of get up easy for these games."

Sheary scored his 17th and has nine goals in nine games. The 5-foot-8 forward, who signed with Pittsburgh as an undrafted free agent in July 2015, equaled a career-best four-game point streak. "I felt strongly that Conor could be a good player in this league," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "I'm not going to suggest that I thought he'd have 17 goals halfway through the season, but I knew he could be a solid player at the NHL level."

The Penguins, the NHL's best home team, won their season-high seventh straight at PPG Paints Arena.

David Krejci scored his 11th for the Bruins, who have lost four straight and five of their past six. "We got away from being on our toes for a few shifts, and you can't do that against (Pittsburgh)," Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron said.

Game highlights: Cam Atkinson's second goal of the game at 1:09 of overtime lifted the Blue Jackets a 7-6 win over the host Senators and back into a tie for the league lead. … Jonathan Toews scored the winning goal with 1:18 left and had three assists to help the host Blackhawks beat the Canucks 3-2. … J.T. Miller scored at 1:56 of overtime to lift the Rangers to a 1-0 victory over the host Red Wings. Henrik Lundqvist made 21 saves for his second shutout of the season. … Claude Giroux scored 3:20 into overtime to give the Flyers a 3-2 win over the host Islanders, who had a three-game winning streak end. … Filip Forsberg scored two of Nashville's three third-period goals and the Predators came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat the host Wild 4-2.