Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
The Washington Capitals‘ Anthony Mantha’s scoring had gone dormant in April, recording no goals and just three assists in his last eight games. But that all quickly came to an end in the second period of Saturday night’s tilt with the Canadiens in Montreal. Mantha would pot two quick tallies in the span of 34 seconds to put an end to the dry spell.
Mantha’s first strike came at 8:03 of the second period. He was assisted by Dmitry Orlov (21) and Lars Eller (17). The goal games the Capitals a 2-1 lead.
34 seconds later Mantha would strike again. This time Lars Eller would lead Mantha into the offensive zone for a one-on-one breakaway.
The goals were Mantha’s 8th and 9th of the season. Both were scored during four-on-four play.
The two goals are the fastest back-to-back goals by a Capital this season (34 seconds), besting Evgeny Kuznetsov’s goals 43 seconds apart on March 11 against the Vancouver Canucks.
Hometown kid is thriving@budlight | #BudLightCelly pic.twitter.com/fhiAwvwLal
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 17, 2022
Mantha also had an assist on Nic Dowd’s opening goal of the game. Mantha now has nine goals and 11 assists in 27 games played so far this season.
By Jon Sorensen
Vrana has 10 goals 4 assists in 19 games played. Just for comparison.
He also was dropped to the third line and had only 10 minutes of ice time last game. Sound familiar?
I felt that performance-wise, both were pretty equal. Both are getting a point in about 74% of the games each has played. In goals, Vrana has been even more impressive. If his ice time is that reduced then I would seriously give Vrana the edge.
I should have clarified, Vrána is the one who was dropped to the third line and had just 10 minutes of ice time in the recent game.
That is what I understood. If Vrana has these stats in 19 games WITH being bumped down and WITH reduce TOI, I find those stats to be even more impressive.
Manthimal! half man, half animal! Now THIS is what I want to see out of Mantha. And the Caps must follow his lead: fire the puck, go to the net for rebounds. Do not curl off, or over pass it, get a shot on goal…!
Vrana didn’t take much longer than that to score 2 against Tampa. (Actually it was 19 minutes but seemed shorter.) 12 goals now.