Detroit Free Press

Red Wings’ Mantha rips his own performanc­e

- Helene St. James

Anthony Mantha’s self-evaluation process is not complicate­d. It also has given him a passing grade this season.

As the Red Wings seek to redeem themselves in a two-game series at Dallas after two stinkers in Chicago, Mantha is trying to figure out how he can lead the effort. It could be argued that, at 26 and flush with a new contract, he should not be ihaving to answer for having just one goal and a minus-5 rating in six games. But he isafter a particular­ly uninspired outing in the second game against the Blackhawks. With two top-six forwards among their five players in COVID-19 protocol, the Wings need Mantha playing like the power forward he can be, not wondering why he is not.

“If I had the answer I would put it in the back of my bag and always be 100% and be the best player I can be,” Mantha said Monday. “I don’t have an answer.”

He did have an answer, though, when asked how he judges if he has played well: “If I am skating, if I am having good shifts in the ozone, if I am not spending too much time in my d-zone, I think it ends up being a good game."

And how many of those has he had this season? “One,” he said. “The one we won in OT.”

That game, on Tuesday against the Blue Jackets at Little Caesars Arena, featured a power play goal from Mantha as part of a threegame point streak. Signed during the offseason to a four-year, $22.8 million deal that demonstrat­es how the Wings value Mantha as part of the rebuild, he is needed for more victory celebratio­ns, and fewer egregious defensive lapses like the one Sunday when he sent a puck to a Blackhawks player, leading to a goal, and failed to engage another 'Hawk at Detroit’s net, resulting in a 4-1 Chicago lead. That goal wasn't entirely on Mantha, though. Vladislav Namestniko­v also failed to pressure Patrick Kane.

It’s not like Mantha and Namestniko­v don’t know better, so what does a coach do?

“The way I’ve always looked at it from a coaching perspectiv­e is, you want to look out and see your team look like they know what they are doing, look like they are organized, look like they know how to react in different situations,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “There is chaos in games that goes beyond every particular system structure — you can’t say, this is going to happen. That’s where hockey smarts play a big factor.”

Namestniko­v was brought in to help with secondary scoring, but he has yet to tally a point, despite having chances. Blashill met with both Mantha and Namestniko­v in Dallas on Monday and emphasized good habits.

“They both need to produce and certainly a guy like Mantha is relied upon to produce a lot, but I don’t think he should judge his game on a nightly basis solely on points,” Blashill said. “In both cases, we’ve focused more on their play away from the puck being where it needed to be.”

Getting Mantha to play at a high level on a consistent basis has been an ongoing challenge for several seasons running.

“I’m someone that’s hard on myself,” Mantha said. “I want to get better. That’s the mentality I’m going in with.

"I just need to get my game going and doing what I do best."

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