Washington Capitals winger Anthony Mantha gave his 30 friends and family members in attendance quite the show on Saturday night.
Playing against the Canadiens in his hometown of Montreal, Mantha scored two goals in the second period to lead the Capitals to an 8-4 victory. Even more impressive, Mantha scored his two goals just 34 seconds apart from each other.
“It’s awesome,” said Mantha, who grew up outside of Montreal. “A lot of people were excited to come see me play. It was good to see family and friends yesterday. Just happy to put on a performance for them tonight.”
It wasn’t the first time Mantha had a career moment against the Habs. In 2016, as a member of the Red Wings, Mantha scored his first NHL goal against Montreal.
Anthony Mantha is so good at hockey. End of tweet. pic.twitter.com/DvXDqERLNm
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) April 17, 2022
The performance Saturday also served as a slump buster for Mantha, who hadn’t scored in eight games. He also tallied two assists in the triumph — easily his best output of the season. Mantha, who missed a large chunk of the season with injury, now has nine goals and 12 assists in 30 games.
The blowout victory was a bounce back for a Washington team that lost 7-3 to Toronto on Thursday. But since the start of March, the Capitals have seemingly rediscovered their early season groove that escaped them in the first two months of the new year. Washington (42-23-10) is 14-5-1 in its last 20 games dating back to the start of March. The team has been even hotter in the month of April, going 5-1 in its last six and scoring an average of 5.6 goals per contest.
• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.
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