Saturday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens held extra significance for Anthony Mantha, who faced off against his hometown team for the third time this season. A native of Longueuil, Quebec, Mantha grew up cheering for the Habs thanks in part to his grandfather Andre Pronovost, who won four Stanley Cups for Montreal the 1950s.
Mantha showed up big in his return to Bell Centre, registering a goal and an assist to earn First Star of the Game honors. Speaking to Monumental Sports Network’s Al Koken pregame, he highlighted the impact of taking the ice in Montreal.
“It always has been (circled on the calendar),” he said. “I mean, just coming home, having dinner with family last night, and then they’re all in the stands tonight to see me perform. It’s always exciting; it’s always fun to come back here.”
The trip brought back plenty of memories as Mantha, now 29, came back to the city that had helped birth his love of the sport. He remembered following his grandfather to games, where he had the opportunity to meet his then-heroes in person. Years later, some of those players would become Mantha’s teammates in Washington.
“I grew up as a fan, also,” Mantha explained. “[My grandfather] brought us to multiple games down here, and we would meet the players back then and wait for an autograph. I mean, I would need to dig deep, but I have pictures with Lars Eller. I’m sure I have a picture somewhere with Pacioretty. I would need to do some research, but those were the players I was looking up to when I was growing up and just made me a fan of hockey.”
Just five years Mantha’s senior, Lars Eller played six seasons for the Canadiens from 2010-11 to 2015-16. Pacioretty spent more than a decade in Montreal starting with the 2008-09 campaign, captaining the team for his final three seasons before leaving via trade in 2018. Mantha would have been 16 years old during Eller’s first season as a Hab, spending time that year both playing AAA hockey and making his QMJHL debut for Val-d’Or.
Fourteen years later, Mantha was back in Montreal, this time in the role of the Canadiens’ opponent. He opened the scoring Saturday night just 3:40 into the game, tapping in a rebound while Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen was still searching for the puck. Mantha would later pick up an assist on Aliaksei Protas’ game-winning goal to record his eighth multi-point night of the season.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery praised Mantha’s goal after the game, pointing to it as an example of the netfront goals the Capitals have desperately needed.
“As we try to find more scoring, for a lot of our forwards, that’s where it’s going to come,” he said, later adding, “Where you really get the meatier goals is around the net. And so Anthony Mantha, prime example. Protas, prime example. So for us to get rewarded and going there and we’re doing a better job of that of late, that’s important.”
Mantha is no stranger to scoring in Montreal. Since joining the NHL, he has faced the Canadiens 23 times and put up 19 points (11g, 8a); at Bell Centre alone, he has scored 10 points (6g, 4a) in 12 games.
The arena also saw what was arguably Mantha’s best night as a Capital, where he recorded a 4-point (2g, 2a) showing against Montreal during an 8-4 blowout win in April of 2022. He told Koken that playing in Montreal gave his game an extra spark.
“I think it’s being in this building and facing the team,” he said. “Like I said, I grew up as a fan, so it always gives you the extra energy to perform well against them.”
Mantha now has five points (2g, 3a) in his last five games.
