DETROIT - Scoring goals is rarely easy.
Anthony Mantha just made it look that way in junior hockey.
In three full seasons with Val d'Or Foreurs of the QMJHL, Mantha scored a whopping 166 goals in 187 games during the postseason and playoffs. He ended his junior days in 2013-14 by 81 scoring goals - 57 of them in 57 regular-season games - and being named CHL Player of the Year.
But when Mantha turned pro in 2015, the goals didn't follow him.
At least not right away.
He missed the first two months of his rookie pro season with a broken leg, struggled to score when he finally joined the Grand Rapids Griffins and it wasn't until last season that he began showing the promise the Detroit Red Wings envisioned when they drafted him 20th overall in 2013.