At first, Anthony Mantha figured his first NHL goal was going to be nothing more than icing on the cake.
It turned out to be the difference maker, and quite a memory for the 21-year-old rookie Detroit Red Wings forward.
Mantha scored his first NHL goal in the second period Thursday at Joe Louis Arena to give the Wings a 4-0 lead, but the determined Montreal Canadiens rallied with three third-period goals, as the Wings hung on for dear life and a 4-3 victory.
“It’s an incredible feeling,… Mantha said. “I didn’t think it was going to be a game winner at first but we had to battle through that third period and ended up winning the game, so it’s huge.…
With his parents and grandparents, including his grandfather, former NHLer Andre Pronovost, among 14 friends and family watching from the stands, Mantha, from Longueuil, Que., about 20 minutes from Montreal, couldn’t have scripted a better scenario for his first NHL goal, netting it against the team he grew up cheering for as a youngster.
“It’s unbelievable,… Mantha said. “Obviously my grandparents were very happy, my parents also. My friends were probably jumping. One of my buddies told me he was going to go around the rink screaming if I scored.
“I kind of had a feeling that the hockey gods were going to reward me after getting high-sticked twice in the first and second periods.
“I just had to battle my way through and they did. It was just a great goal.…
Secondary Scoring Mantha wasn’t the only Wing contributing who wouldn’t normally be expected to light red lamps. Riley Sheahan scored a pair of goals, equalling his output from the previous 30 games. Fourth-line center Luke Glendening also scored, his third goal in four games after going 21 straight without a tally.
Sheahan scored on a breakaway, but his first, as well as Detroit’s other two markers, all were the result of strong net-front presence.
“I think we’ve scored a lot more of those here recently,… Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “We’ve done a better job having net presence, we’ve done a better job of getting pucks to the net. We had lots of shots tonight.
“We’ve got to continue getting bodies to the net and pucks to the net as much as possible.…
But What About The Meltdown? Thursday marked just the second time in 11 games and fifth time in the past 20 that the Wings had opened the scoring, so perhaps their third-period collapse evolved around confusion about how to play with a lead.
“You want to go out and salt the game away and go shift and shift and not give them any life and unfortunately they scored right away and that gives them life and then they got another one and the next thing you know there’s lots of life,… Blashill said. “We’ve got to be better than that in the third. There’s no question about it.
“I didn’t love our first, I really liked our second and I certainly didn’t like our third.…
Here’s an alarming stat to chew on – in the past two games, the defensive pairing of Jonathan Ericsson (minus-five) and Niklas Kronwall (minus-six) are a combined minus-11.
They’ve given away pucks like an absolute turnover machine in recent action.
“We’ve got better hockey in us and we’ve got to play better come Saturday (against Pittsburgh),… Blashill said.
Hicketts Honored Red Wings prospect Joe Hicketts of the Victoria Royals was named the Western Conference defenseman of the year in the Western Hockey League Tuesday and was also named a WHL all-star.
The 5-8, 175-pound Hicketts, who played for Canada at the last two world junior tournaments, produced 8-53-61 totals and a plus-38 rating in 59 games this season, including 27 power-play assists, third-best in the league.
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