WINGS POST-GAME: Mantha’s 5 Point Night Leads Wings Past Bruins
By Nick Seguin
5 years ago The Boston Bruins are one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, but they ran into a brick wall tonight. The Red Wings are hot as all hell right now and they burned right through the Bruins at Little Caesars Arena.
It was Anthony Mantha’s night as he scored his first career hat trick and added two assists to lead the Wings in the 6-3 victory.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
- Every single Red Wings goal tonight was scored by an under-25 player. In fact, the only player over 25-years-old who recorded a point was Niklas Kronwall, who had two assists.
- Mantha scored his 1st career hat trick, but it was off the hard work of Tyler Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi assisted on all three of Mantha’s goals, always working his ass off to maintain possession of the puck. Here’s the first goal of the game, that Bertuzzi fought for:
- Madison Bowey had a pretty good game and it started with a big open ice hit on Brad Marchand.
- Taro Hirose scored his first NHL goal off a beautiful play by Andreas Athanasiou. Hirose truly deserved this after recording five assists in his first five NHL games.
- All goal scoring aside, Jimmy Howard played a fantastic game, shoving aside 31 of the Bruins 34 shots. We all know the Bruins can be deadly, but Howard kept Marchand, Pastrnak, and Bergeron at bay for most of the night and gave the Red Wings an opportunity to win.
- This was the Red Wings fifth win in a row and the seventh in their last eight games. It’s a pretty amazing stretch to end the season on, considering most of their veterans are injured. The kids are really making an impact and showing us what they can do.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This game and the current winning streak has been on the back of the young players. They are showing what they can do when given the responsibility. Andreas Athanasiou has looked much better at center. Despite injuries, Dylan Larkin has contributed consistently. Anthony Mantha has found the back of the net with his big shot. And then there’s Taro Hirose. What do we even make of this kid?
The development is on full display these days and watching what they can do is a positive sign. We don’t need the best odds at the first overall pick to improve. This team is improving on it’s own. This tweet from our own Cameron Kuom sums it up perfectly:
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