Detroit Red Wings Anthony Mantha shines when physically engaged

It seems when Anthony Mantha is engaged in the game physically he plays much better. The Detroit Red Wings have elevated Mantha to the top line, and he’s rewarded the team with better play of late.

When Anthony Mantha shows up to the rink in somewhat of a bad mood, he seems to play much better. Someone should accidentally, on purpose, knock over his morning coffee once and a while. The Detroit Red Wings forward doesn’t necessarily need to take part in an exchange of fisticuffs, to be a physical force.

The knock on Anthony Mantha early in his career is that he forgets to move his feet at times. It appears as if he’s not “trying” as hard as he possibly can. Part of it is he’s 6’4 in stature, so players like Dylan Larkin need to take a couple of strides to his one, but nevertheless, that’s a reputation you never want to have in the NHL. He’s not nearly as “lazy” as he once was, and yes he used to be caught watching too often in the past, he’s played much better lately.

It seems when Mantha is going right and using his body down low on the boards in the offensive zone and banging the body when he sees an opportunity to do so he plays much better. Saturday afternoon in Philly he hit Claude Giroux from behind. It was a dirty play that Mantha likely regretted immediately. We’ve got to understand this is a fast-paced game sometimes unfortunate things happen throughout the game. That isn’t an excuse; it was a dirty play.

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Sunday, Wayne Simmonds appeared as judge and jury after the incident and courted Mantha into a firey tilt. Although Simmonds won the fight, Mantha held his own. The Detroit Red Wings probably cringe like the fans when they see the big fella drop the gloves with his injury history. If you’ve lived under a rock for the last few years or you are a new Red Wings fan you wouldn’t know, but Mantha has broken his hand twice over the previous three years that occurred during a fight.

The Detroit Red Wings can’t afford to lose Mantha for an extended period of time because of an injury occurring in a scrap. That doesn’t mean he will give up on fighting altogether, but he should certainly pick and choose his bouts wisely.

I found it fascinating after Mantha got that scrap out of the way early he played a tremendous game. The Flyers are a physical team, and Saturday Mantha scored a pair of goals including the tying goal with 0:07 left in the third period. Although Mantha didn’t record a point in Detroit’s 3-1 loss Sunday, Mantha recorded 7 shots on goal and played nearly 19:00 minutes. He was undoubtedly one of the Detroit Red Wings top forwards.

Mantha seems to of taken off since head coach Jeff Blashill elevated him back to the top line playing with Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. The trio creates chances every time they are on the ice. Larkin is terrific in all three zones and flies around on the ice. Bertuzzi is the mudder; he grinds and digs, he does all the dirty work and then plants himself in front of the net. Anthony Mantha is the highly skilled big body who can snipe from anywhere in the offensive zone.

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By playing Mantha with Larkin forces him always to have his legs churning. It proved to be true last night as Mantha recorded 4 assists and Larkin notched a pair of goals along with a helper. Larkin can flat out fly so if you want the puck or a scoring chance as a winger you need to be going North and South not side to side. It’s a top line I can see for many years to come; they are a “kid line” that will continue to grow and improve as time goes on. They will be fun to watch for many years to come in Motown.

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