Tonight’s 2nd Red vs. White scrimmage involved more time for Anthony Mantha on the penalty-kill with Dylan Larkin, and Mantha told the Free Press’s Helene St. James that he’s enjoying his new-found role–as is his coach:
“If you look at Larkin that was doing penalty kill plus five on five and power play last season, he would play around 20-22 minutes a night,” Mantha said. “It’s a big responsibility for me but I think I am willing to do it. Especially when you get two or three penalties in a row, just sitting on the bench, it’s six minutes you’re not moving, you’re not doing anything.
“I’m excited to keep the legs going and hopefully I can get the job done.”
Mantha’s value as a scorer is well established. His line with Larkin and Bertuzzi is fun to watch — Bertuzzi set up Mantha’s first goal, and Larkin set up Mantha for a one-timer to make it 2-0. But for Mantha to also be trusted to kill penalties is something new, and shows his maturation as a player.
“I think Anthony Mantha has grown a lot as a player over his time here and I think he’s continuing to grow,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “Anthony ultimately does a pretty good job defensively. Sometimes it’s not in terms of moving his feet the way I want, but ultimately he’s got that big long stick and he’s smart and he just finds ways to not give up a whole lot of chances five-on-five and we thought potentially he could help our kill.”
St. James continues, and MLive’s Ansar Khan also spoke with Mantha and Blashill about Big Tony’s special teams play:
“I think Anthony Mantha has grown a lot over his time here and he’s continued to grow,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “I think part of being a good penalty killer is getting an opportunity. Anthony generally does a good job defensively. Sometimes it’s not exactly in terms of moving his feet the way I want, but he’s got that big, long stick and he’s pretty smart and he just finds ways to not give up a whole bunch of chances five-on-five, so we thought potentially he could be a guy who could help our kill.
“If he’s on the blue line on a 1-3 PK forecheck he can cover so much area in terms of the width that he makes it hard for people to penetrate our line.
“He’s learning, he’s had days he’s done good on the kill and days he hasn’t been as good. We’ll keep watching and see who gives us the best chance to kill these penalties.”
Update: Here’s a bit more from the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:
Mantha hasn’t killed penalties since his final year of junior hockey. The chance of added ice time and responsibility, though, excites him.
“So far in the scrimmages and practices, it has gone well,” Mantha said. “There are a couple of things I need to work on. It’s something i can work on both with the coaches and teammates.
“Hopefully it pays off.”
Individual games are often decided simply on specialty teams, and Blashill wants to put his best players in those situations as much as possible.
Getting Mantha on the penalty kill adds strength to that department.
“Anthony has grown a lot as a player, and he continues to grow,” Blashill said. “Defensively, he has a long stick and he finds way to not give up chances. He’s learning (penalty killing), and we’ll keep watching.”
