If anyone knows what it's like to be in Steven Stamkos' shoes, it's Zach Parise.

Back in 2012, Parise decided to leave the team that drafted him and for which he served as captain, choosing to sign a lucrative 13-year, $98-million contract with his hometown Minnesota Wild along with defenseman Ryan Suter.

"It's tough being in that situation, being a captain. That's your team. The guys look up to you and respect you. It's not easy," the former Devil told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.

Parise added, "If you're going to decide to wait for (after) the season, go home and be by yourself. When you're surrounded by everything, it's tough to think of leaving. I'm not telling him to leave, but for me, the best thing is we went home just for a couple weeks (and) tried to figure out what to do."

Parise qualified his advice by admitting the Lightning captain indeed has a tough decision ahead, and will have to assess whether the grass really will be greener on the other side.

At the same time, it can be an enjoyable process, and Stamkos is surely in for a nice payday when it's all said and done.

"It's fun," Parise said of hitting the open market. "You're getting courted by every team. It's flattering. It's humbling. It's a really neat thing. … For (Stamkos), it's one time, (get an) eight-year deal (with the Lightning) or seven somewhere else."

As it does every year, the NHL's free agency period begins on July 1.

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Mike Sullivan didn't even want to address it, even though he kind of did.

The Pittsburgh Penguins head coach was asked Thursday about Logan Couture's assertion that Sidney Crosby cheats in the faceoff circle and receives special treatment from officials.

To Sullivan, it's a non-issue.

"Sid's not doing anything their guys aren't doing," he told reporters. "Quite honestly, it really isn't worthy of a response."

Crosby ranks second in faceoff wins this postseason with 245, with a success rate of 52.7 percent.

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The NHL combine is underway in Buffalo, and with the draft around the corner, projected No. 1 pick Auston Matthews is getting to know his presumptive future bosses.

Matthews was interviewed by Toronto Maple Leafs brass, including director of player personnel Mark Hunter. General manger Lou Lamoriello sat in on the interview too, but was only there to listen.

"Lou didn't ask me anything in that meeting," Matthews told Dean Blundell of Sportsnet 590 The Fan. "I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He just sat there and listened."

When asked, the 18-year-old joked he was glad he didn't mess up any answers in front of the Leafs boss.

"It'd probably kill my confidence for the rest of that meeting," he said.

Lamoriello's notorious ice-cold demeanor did shake Matthews a little bit.

"You know, he is a little bit (intimidating)," Matthews said. "He seems like a good guy, really passionate about what he does. He cares. The two times I've talked to him, you look at him and you know who he is and what he represents."

The draft is set for June 24th, where Matthews and Lamoriello are likely to cross paths again.

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The San Jose Sharks produced at a supreme rate through three rounds in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Their 63 goals in 18 games translated to a 3.5 goals-per-game standard, and a rate only incrementally behind the output of the 2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks - the highest-scoring team to compete in the Stanley Cup Final in the post-lockout era.

More impressive than comparing their attack to a juggernaut is the competition on which San Jose's scorers have feasted. They drummed up offense against some of the most defensively sound programs in the NHL, and units anchored by stalwarts like Drew Doughty, Roman Josi, and Alex Pietrangelo.

So the question entering the terminating series was valid: how were these Pittsburgh Penguins, with the misfit cast of characters that share a blue line with Kris Letang in protection of a rookie goalie, going to dig in and stop a Sharks team that arrived at the Stanley Cup Final via cannon?

Pittsburgh snatched up a strangle hold in the series Wednesday night after another suffocating performance. They allowed 22 shots and defended 49 shot attempts (both totals fewer than they allowed in Game 1), fortifying the defensive zone for 60-plus minutes against a desperate opponent, before Sidney Crosby acted as player-coach on the dot, drawing up a decisive set-piece off an attacking-zone draw 155 seconds into extra time.

Crosby, of course, was lauded after the game. As was Conor Sheary, who scored the overtime winner, and Phil Kessel, whose tap-in goal in the second period serves as his team-leading 19th point. But where would the Penguins - who produced just four goals in six regularly scheduled periods - be without its seal-tight defense that's allowed three goals in two-plus games?

Here's a snapshot of the unit's work:

• Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski have been muted, mustering just six shots and 16 attempts. The pair combined for 40 points and 86 shots in 18 games prior to the Cup Final.
• Sharks forwards placed five shots on goal through 40 minutes in Game 2, and the entire team went more than 11 minutes without testing Matt Murray in the second. San Jose has also been held to single-digit shot totals in five of the six completed periods, while only attempting marginally fewer shots.
• The Sharks mustered 24 scoring chances and nine high-danger scoring chances in two games after averaging 29 and 13.5 throughout the entire season, respectively, before clashing with Pittsburgh.
• This may be a reach, but the Penguins might be so dialed in defensively, that they've become selective with who shoots the puck. Only Brent Burns has more shot attempts than Roman Polak, who the Penguins have almost seemed to invite attempts from to create a change of possession. Call it hockey's version of sending a poor free-throw shooter to the line, because Polak's never scored in a Sharks uniform.

So the question is how this patchwork unit - who we'd be remiss not to note are leaning on Justin Schultz for fairly significant minutes in the absence of the man most representative of their misfit nature: No. 2 defender Trevor Daley - has been so successful against a team that scored previously at a historic pace?

With dogged three-zone contributions and enduring faculty to drive play, the forwards have also played a major role in shutting down the Sharks - but that cuts both ways. Through accountable close-outs, swift puck-retrievals, and efficient exits, the back line remains vital to Pittsburgh's dominant possession metrics and the success of this team.

The unit will receive less plaudits compared to the likes of Crosby, Murray, and the "HBK" line if the Penguins win another two games this season, but without its positionally sound, disciplined, and (aside from Ben Lovejoy's late release and rotation on Patrick Marleau's goal in Game 1) nearly mistake-free performance through two games, the Penguins aren't in position to bury the Sharks this weekend.

Somehow, they're holding up just fine.

- advanced stats courtesy war-on-ice.com, corsica.hockey

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With his overtime winner Wednesday night, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Conor Sheary joined quite an exclusive list.

The 23-year-old became the first rookie in 30 years to net an overtime goal in the Stanley Cup Final, and only the fifth ever to do so.

The goal was his fourth of the playoffs, and gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 series lead over the San Jose Sharks.

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Ryan Kesler seems to have a feel for the what the Anaheim Ducks need in a new bench boss.

With the club still looking for a head coach following the firing of Bruce Boudreau, and with Randy Carlyle reportedly deep in the mix, Kesler believes the Ducks need someone who can make in-game adjustments and keep the players on their toes.

"We just need a good bench coach, a coach that does things on the fly and makes changes during the game and not just between periods," Kesler told Ben Kuzma of The Province. "We need a coach that holds everybody accountable - not just certain guys. We need a coach to come in and just be a good motivator and do what a coach does.

"The biggest thing is we need a good bench coach for strategies."

Kesler played for Carlyle as a member of the AHL's Manitoba Moose, and seems to slot him favorably based on the aforementioned criteria.

"He was a very good bench coach and very detailed," Kesler said. "We worked on faceoff plays every practice and on the power play every practice - things that you really need to work on everyday."

Carlyle won a Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007, and was replaced by Boudreau in 2011.

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The San Jose Sharks are in trouble.

Thanks to a 2-1 overtime victory Wednesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins own a 2-0 series lead heading to California, and if history is any indicator, the Penguins are in good shape.

Although both games have been decided by one goal, Pittsburgh has carried play throughout the series, and has been the better team. That said, San Jose has a record of 7-2 at home this postseason, and the series is far from over.

As both teams gear up for travel, here are three keys to the Penguins' Game 2 win.

Neutralizing Sharks' weapons

The firepower that brought San Jose to their first Stanley Cup Final was stagnant in Pittsburgh.

The Sharks' top line of Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl only mustered four shots combined in Game 2, and none of the three have registered a point thus far.

After dispatching the strong defensive corps of Los Angeles, Nashville, and St. Louis, San Jose looked apt to pick apart the Penguins less experienced blue line.

Logan Couture's scored two points, but it's clear San Jose needs its big three to get going in their search for survival.

Discipline

Perhaps the biggest key to shutting down the Sharks has been keeping them at even strength.

Pittsburgh only surrendered one power play in Game 2, and it yielded no results. Both Pavelski and Thornton have nine points with the man advantage in the playoffs, and the Sharks as a team have a 27.3 percent success rate this postseason.

Playing 5-on-5 gives the Penguins a distinct edge, as their transition game and depth is superior to San Jose's, allowing them to play to their strength.

"HBK" keeps firing

Nick Bonino in Game 1, then Phil Kessel in Game 2. The "HBK" line is still going strong.

Kessel's goal - assisted by Bonino and Carl Hagelin - was his 10th of the playoffs, and the Penguins' third line continues to be too much to handle. While San Jose's top defensive pairings deal with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, "HBK" is slotted against Roman Polak and Brenden Dillon, and based on speed, it's a huge mismatch.

San Jose suppressed Pittsburgh to 30 shots on Wednesday, compared to 41 in Game 1, but at this point, the Penguins' depth has been a major difference in the series.

Game 3 is set for Saturday night at the Shark Tank.

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Hollywood could not have scripted this any better.

Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin and his fiancee Anna Kasterova welcomed a baby boy into the world on May 31, and little Nikita's birth weight (7 pounds, 1 ounce) just so happened to correspond with Daddy's jersey No. 71.

Between this and Pittsburgh jumping out to a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final, Malkin - who was still wearing his hospital bracelet after Game 2 - is having a week to remember.

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