Detroit Red Wings: Anthony Mantha leading team to surprising success
The Detroit Red Wings are off to a strong start to the 2019-20 season thanks to the top line, led by Anthony Mantha.
Going into this season, the Detroit Red Wings appeared to have a rough early portion of their schedule. After all, they had to open their season with back-to-back games on consecutive nights against the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars. An 0-2-0 start to the season was expected. However, Anthony Mantha and the Red Wings top forward line didn’t get that memo.
Detroit was able to win both games, outscoring the Predators and Stars by a 9-6 margin. Of those nine goals, Mantha has been directly responsible for five of them. Four of those goals came on Sunday’s 4-3 win against the Stars. Mantha’s fourth goal came with under one minute left in regulation.
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Of the Red Wings’ nine goals, Mantha has been involved in seven of them with five goals and two assists. He’s driving the top line, which also features Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. Those three players have combined to score eight of the Red Wings nine goals so far this season. Each of them is averaging over 20 minutes a night, although it’s still early.
The Red Wings have been a surprise so far, but they will need Mantha, Larkin, and Bertuzzi to continue to dominate to have a chance at the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
One extremely dominant forward line can carry a team to the postseason – just look at the Colorado Avalanche. Of course, they have an annual Hart Trophy contender in Nathan MacKinnon.
In order for the Red Wings to make the postseason, they’re going to need a Hart Trophy performance from Mantha, and probably Larkin as well. Detroit has only gotten one goal from outside of their top line, which came from Luke Glendening against the Predators.
The Red Wings probably aren’t going to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It’s way too early to read too much into their early season success, but they’ll likely need more depth. However, if Mantha and the top line can continue to dominate, they might be further along in their rebuild than initially thought.
The first ingredient for any Stanley Cup contender is a go-to forward line. In 2018, the Washington Capitals relied on Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Tom Wilson. Last season, the St. Louis Blues relied on Vladimir Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn, and Jaden Schwartz, as well as Conn Smythe winner Ryan O’Reilly. When times got rough, they leaned on them.
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Thus far, Mantha and Larkin are looking like legitimate top line forwards. Bertuzzi is a solid role player who brings elements of speed and physicality to the line. The hardest part of a rebuild is finding your cornerstone pieces. The Red Wings are hoping they’ve found three of them on their top line.