Washington Capitals winger Conor Sheary leads the team in goals eight games into the season but it’s his recent contributions on the penalty kill that have drawn more interest.
The 30-year-old forward admits never received the chance to play shorthanded until he arrived in DC. It started when he got a few shifts here and there last season. Now, he’s one of the first players to jump over the boards with Tom Wilson, Connor Brown, and Carl Hagelin out long-term due to injury.
“It’s something different for me,” Sheary told Mike Vogel. “I did it a little bit last year and was able to pick up some things that I hadn’t used in the past in my career. This year I’ve had a little bit more responsibility and been able to kill a lot. I’m getting a lot more comfortable with it and enjoying it while I can do it.”
When Brown, who had been averaging over two minutes of shorthanded ice time per game, left the lineup, the Caps turned to Sheary to see if he could be leaned upon. Sheary currently ranks second (1:43) among Caps forwards behind only Nic Dowd (1:56) in terms of penalty kill ice time.
Sheary scored his first career shorthanded goal this week against the Devils after playing in 455 NHL games without tallying one.
“I think I can use my stick and my quickness to disrupt plays all over the ice,” Sheary said. “A guy I actually watched do it a lot was Carl Hagelin. I think we have similar instincts and similar assets that helps us on the penalty kill. I’ve had coaches approach me in the past and say, ‘We might try and get you out there’ but it just never really came to fruition until I came here to Washington.”
The Caps have leaned on a small group of forwards under new assistant coach Scott Allen. Only Dowd, Sheary, Lars Eller, Garnet Hathaway, and Evgeny Kuznetsov are averaging over a minute of shorthanded ice time per game with the next closest forward being Marcus Johansson at just four seconds.
Sheary only saw 24 seconds of shorthanded ice time per game last year. He has become a player that the Capitals coaching staff has really leaned on to contribute at all strengths and in different positions.
“He’s a really smart two-way player,” Caps head coach Peter Laviolette said of Sheary. “It strikes me odd that he never really got a chance there either – I can’t see it being from anything that he’s deficient at because he’s somebody that we would have on the ice when it comes to win a game. If we’re up by a goal and there’s two minutes to go, he’s somebody that we would count on to make sure the game gets delivered. He battles hard, he sees the ice, he’s got good hockey sense, he’s willing to sacrifice.”
Sheary joins Kuznetsov as a more unconventional penalty-killer as they have been known more as more offense-first forwards over the course of their careers. Both have a lot of experience playing on power plays. Laviolette said that could make them even more valuable to the shorthanded unit.
“I often think that some of the best penalty killers are power-play guys because they know what the other power play is thinking as the other power play is working it out,” Laviolette said. “They have that anticipation and that jump to see things from a reverse angle which makes them maybe able to defend it a little bit better and quicker.”
The Capitals enter Saturday night’s game against the Nashville Predators killing 77.3-percent of opposition power plays. That is good for 20th best in the NHL, however, they have been perfect over their last three games.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
