Sharks forward Logan Couture claims Penguins' Sidney Crosby is a cheater

The San Jose Sharks are in a 0-2 hole to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals, but Sharks forward Logan Couture does not seem to think the Penguins jumped out to that series lead in an entirely fair way.

The Penguins won Game 2 of the series in overtime after Conor Sheary converted on a set play orchestrated by Sidney Crosby. But Couture, who lost a key faceoff to Crosby in overtime, claimed Crosby had an unfair advantage at the dot.

To be fair to Couture, Crosby does win an absurd amount of faceoffs. Crosby won 71 percent of the draws he handled in Game 2 and won 56 percent of draws in Game 1. But to claim that Crosby timing faceoffs constitutes full-blown cheating seems to be a bit of a stretch. All centers attempt to get an edge at the faceoff dot in any way they can, and timing is one of the ways to do that.

Couture has a reputation as a player who tends to complain, but there could be a bit of strategy in this quote. Coaches sometimes complain about missed calls they aren't happy about to the media in the hopes of swaying a referee's calls for the next game. Perhaps Couture is simply trying to get referees to pay more attention to Crosby in the faceoff circle in the games to come.

But Crosby himself does not seem too concerned about Couture's complaints. The Penguins star pointed out in his post-game press conference Wednesday that he fails much more often than he succeeds.

Couture's comments provide an interesting storyline to follow through the remainder of the Finals, but San Jose has to be hoping that Couture will start making more noise on the ice and stay quiet off it in the near future.