Anthony Mantha brought the offense, and then he brought the jokes.
Taking his position in front of a horde of reporters in the Red Wings' locker room after scoring all four goals in Detroit's 4-3 win over the Stars in Sunday night's home opener, Mantha sized up the scene and then held back a smile.
"Why is this scrum so big today?" he quipped.
It was Dylan Larkin with the answer a short while later, as he summed up Mantha's fantastic night and his furious start to this season.
"When he's hot, he can be one of the best in the world, and you're seeing that right now," Larkin said. "He's fun to play with when he's feeling it, so I'll keep feeding him."
"How do you get there? It’s playing good hockey last year, playing good hockey at the World Championship, obviously having a great offseason and a good camp, and then it just shows off in the first two games," he said.
Mantha missed a good chunk of last season with a broken hand, but he was terrific down the stretch on a line with Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. Then he lit up the World Championship for a Canada team that claimed the silver medal. Now he's back with Larkin and Bertuzzi, the top line Detroit's counting on this season, and it appears they never skipped a beat. The trio has combined for 16 points through two games.
All three of them were in Finland for the World Championship in May, and it was there that they resolved to turn last season's spark into this season's flame.
"We actually did have talks about it," Larkin said. "Our message was, when we get back to Detroit and we’re back together, we’re going to hit the ground running."
"100 percent," he said. "If I cut hard to the net like that, there’s not a lot of 'D' that can stop me that are bigger than me."
This is something the Red Wings have stressed to Mantha the past few years. He has the tools to be a dominant power forward in the NHL. Now it looks like he has the mentality to go with it, which is a great sign for a team in need of more offense this season and an organization in need of more goal-scorers in the seasons to come.
"He’s 6’5, he’s fast, he’s got great hands. It’s a heck of a package, and when he drives the net like that he’s showing that package off," said Jeff Blashill.
Blashill added, "I just think he’s starting to really feel confident in understanding the level of player he can be."
It's not just Mantha's willingness to take the puck to the net. It's his eagerness to shoot it when he has the chance. That's another adjustment to his mindset from years past, especially as he refines that one-timer to go with his deadly wrist shot. Blashill has moved him from the net front to the half-wall on the power play, where it's bombs away from close range.
It's yet another way in which Mantha can score, which is what he's always done best.
"He’s got a great shot," Blashill said. "He needs to continue to find ways to increase what I would call the sweet spot of where he can hit that one-timer, and I think he’s doing it."
Mantha, 25, has increased his goal output in each of his first four seasons. He likely would have cracked 30 for the first time last season had he not missed about a month with his hand injury; he finished with 25 in 67 games. 30, he said, is the goal this season.
"If it's starting like this," Mantha said, "let's hope for more."
Told he's on pace for about 200, Mantha reached back into his bag of jokes, on a night he reached deep into his bag of tricks.
"If I get there," he smiled, "I’ll pay you dinner, for sure."
Quite honestly, 30 might be selling himself short. Mantha didn't score his fifth goal last season until his 17th game. He's well ahead of schedule a year later. Where it leaves him remains to be seen, but Mantha's development is finally taking him to the places he knows he can go.
"Obviously it took a while, maybe longer than I wanted, but we’re here today and we’ll keep it going," he said.