BUFFALO, N.Y. — As this season closes, Anthony Mantha is practicing a habit that he hopes will help him start more fires next season.

A fired-up Mantha is a beast, and that’s how he, and the Detroit Red Wings, would like him to play on a consistent basis. To that end, he and coach Jeff Blashill have come up with a list of “fire starters,” a mental checklist Mantha goes through right before a game.

“To be intense in those one-on-one battles, maybe win the first couple one-on-one battles, maybe a body check in there, and then obviously move my feet,” Mantha said after Thursday’s morning skate. “Those are the three checkpoints.”

The “move my feet” facet is one Mantha has had been tasked with throughout his pro career. He was so effortlessly a success in juniors (two 50-goal seasons, 120 points his last season with Val d’Or in the Quebec league) that it’s taken time to realize just how hard he has to work to stand out in the NHL. Credit Mantha for being the first to call himself out of that, and for showing real growth in that area this season. He was a beast on the coast-to-coast trip that wrapped up with games at Vegas and San Jose.

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“The last road trip is indicative of the player that we hope he can become in terms of the consistency,” Blashill said. “If he can get himself to be as close to that on a night-to-night basis, he’s an elite player in the league. It really comes down to skating for him — when he skates, he’s a big factor in the game all the time, whether it’s on the forecheck, whether it’s with the puck, whether he creates space for other people. He’s such a big man with good skill that he creates tons of opportunities.

“It’s something he was doing really well until he got hurt. Since he’s been back it’s been a little bit on again, off again. But the growth process for him will be eliminating the valleys and making sure those valleys are much more shallow — that when it’s not his ‘A’ game, he’s got a really good ‘B’ game.”

Mantha, 24, missed a month recovering from a hand injury incurred from a fight Nov. 2. At the time he had nine goals in 27 games, extrapolating to a 27-goal season. He had 19 goals entering Thursday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. He averaged 2.84 shots per game, an uptick from last season’s 2.39, which is good because the Wings believe he has a better shot than he gives himself credit for. He showed it off in the Vegas game when he scored on a one-timer, one that came a shift after he’d committed a turnover that led to the Golden Knights scoring. Mistakes happen; the response was what mattered.

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That’s the kind of engagement the Wings are thrilled to see Mantha developing.

“He’s still a young guy,” Blashill said. “We want all these guys to be instantaneously great and that’s not usually how it happens. Most guys it takes some time. Patience is a big thing. Even as a coach sometimes you don’t have enough patience, but you have to. I see certain growth in his game and I think there’s more there.

“It’s easy when you’re a little skater to play with lots of energy every night. It’s a lot harder with big men, and when big men don’t skate, it’s obvious. You can’t hide when you’re 6-foot-5 and have a skill set.”

Mantha has spent much of the season with Dylan Larkin, forming a pairing that has excellent chemistry. They showed that off in the San Jose game, when Mantha fed Larkin the puck on the opening shift. Larkin has emerged as an elite player this season, and if Mantha can fire himself up on a consistent basis, they’ll be all the more dynamic.

“I want to finish the season hard,” Mantha said. “When there was 10 or 11 games left, I was telling myself to be the best player I can be till the end. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.