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How good has Anthony Mantha been for Red Wings?

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Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche visit Sidney Crosby and the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday Night Hockey. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

When the Detroit Red Wings drafted Anthony Mantha 20th overall in 2013, they were expecting to get a legitimate scoring threat with size. Mantha, who finished his Quebec Major Junior Hockey League career with back-to-back 50-goal seasons, has scored 24 and 25 goals in each of the last two years in the NHL, which is more than respectable. But it looks like he’s starting to take his game to another level.

The 25-year-old is off to a fantastic start this season, as he’s accumulated six goals and eight points in just four games, but his incredible run started well before this year.

Since March 19 no player in the NHL has scored more goals (14) or points (23) than the Red Wings forward (Leon Draisaitl and Steven Stamkos have both collected 22 points since then). Think about that. Not Connor McDavid, not Nikita Kucherov, not Sidney Crosby, not Alex Ovechkin. Nobody.
“I just want to go out and have one of my best years, and that’s really the mentality I’m going into this season,” Mantha said before the start of the season, per The Detroit News. “Just having the same line, that helps with your confidence. You know what to expect from your linemates because you’ve played with them already and the chemistry was there.”

Starting the year with the same linemates definitely hasn’t hurt. Mantha, Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi have been excellent to start the 2019-20 season. Not only did Mantha score the game-winner on the power play in his home province last night, his line also dominated possession whenever they were on the ice.

Mantha (57.14 CF%), Bertuzzi (60 CF%) and Larkin (60 CF%) were always ready to give their team a spark when they hit the ice. Just 30 seconds after Canadiens forward Joel Armia tied the game, 1-1, at Bell Centre, the Red Wings top line put their team ahead again.
“He progressively got more productive,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said earlier this month. “(We’re) hoping the same rings true in the NHL. Certainly last year would have been his most productive had he stayed healthy.

“He could score a lot of goals in this league. He’s a big power forward who is hard to handle. He can skate. He’s big. He has all the skills.”

Mantha already has three-point and four-goal performances under his belt already this season and two of his goals have proven to be game-winners. It’s safe to say that he’s one of the big reasons why Detroit is off to a solid 3-1-0 start. Can he keep it up? Can they continue to surprise in the East? Those two questions may go hand-in-hand.

Yes, the Wings need their other forwards to continue helping out, but if the top line can keep producing like one of the better trios in hockey, they’ll have a decent chance of grabbing one of the top eight seeds in the conference. Look, there’s still a long way to go before that happens, but it’s not out of the question.

Even though Mantha won’t finish the regular season with the 123 goals he’s currently on pace to score, he can still lead this rebuilding team to new heights. Right now all he has to do is keep firing pucks towards his opponent’s goal and he’ll be fine.

“Just my confidence right now,” said Mantha explained after the win over the Canadiens, per CBC.ca. “My linemates are feeding me properly and right now it’s going in so I just need to keep shooting.”

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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.