Mantha on a mission

Two seasons ago, Anthony Mantha appeared on a fast track to the NHL and the Detroit Red Wings when a broken leg suffered at the rookie tournament in Traverse City put him on the sidelines.

Since then he has tried to make his way back to Motown and while he has played a handful of games with the parent club, his toil has taken place mainly in Grand Rapids.

He has served notice early on this season, he is too big of a fish to swim in the AHL pond much longer.

His hat trick on Tuesday night helped the Grand Rapids Griffins stay perfect with a 4-3 edge at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines against the host Iowa Wild.

The Griffs outshot its host 30-20, but trailed 1-0 after a period and 3-1 entering the third.

Mantha’s second of the night 92 seconds into the final frame got the Griffins within a goal and he finished off his hat trick with the tying goal with 8:53 to go. The Griffins took its first and only lead with 3:58 remaining as Kyle Criscuolo, a 2016 graduate of Harvard University scored his first professional goal.

Jeff Hoggan provided the first period goal for the Wild and after Mantha tied it early in the second, Zach Palmquist and Joel Eriksson Ek both added to the Wild total. Eriksson Ek, signed by the Wild in the First Round (20th Overall) in the 2015 NHL Draft was playing his first North American pro game having played the previous season with Farjestad of the Swedish Elite League.

Wednesday in the AHL

Two other Midwest teams will play on Wednesday (Oct. 19) in the AHL as the 2-0-0-0 Milwaukee Admirals travel to AllState Arena to take on the 0-2-0-0 Chicago Wolves.