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Jared Coreau made 19 saves in a 6-5 prospects tournament win over the St. Louis Blues.

(Brendan Savage | MLive.com)

TRAVERSE CITY – Anthony Mantha didn't do anything unexpected Friday night but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun to watch.

The 1,200 or so fans who packed the stands at Centre ICE Arena will vouch for that and so will Mantha's teammates on the Detroit Red Wings prospects team.

Mantha is expected to score goals after being named the CHL Player of the Year last season and he bagged a pair to get the Red Wings started toward a 6-5 overtime victory over the St. Louis Blues in the opener of the club's annual prospects tournament.

"I was definitely looking forward to seeing what he could do out there," said defenseman Joe Hicketts, a free-agent invitee who scored the game-winning goal with 1:50 left in overtime. "He's a great, skilled forward who takes the puck to the net.

"He's everything he's advertised" to be.

The 6-foot-5 Mantha opened the scoring on the Red Wings' second shot six minutes into the game and then gave Detroit a 3-1 lead less than four minutes into the second period when he batted the puck out of mid-air.

Nobody was surprised by the performance after Mantha scored 50 goals two years ago and then had 57 more among 120 points last season. But that doesn't mean they still weren't impressed.

"That second goal was unbelievable, the way he batted that out of the air," said Andreas Athanasiou, a 49-goal scorer in the OHL last season who also connected against the Blues. "He's an exciting player to watch.

"Playing with him is unbelievable as well."

It was the second straight two-goal outing for Matha in a prospects tournament game but the first came a year ago, when he tallied twice as the Red Wings beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 to win the event for the first time ever.

Although Red Wings fans are clamoring to see Mantha start the season in Detroit, he's almost certain to begin his pro career with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins.

His future coach in Grand Rapids, Jeff Blashill, had a front-row seat for Friday's game since Blashill is coaching the prospects team as well.

"He's got a special ability to score goals," said Blashill, a former Red Wings assistant coach under Mike Babcock. "He did a lot of the little things it's going to take for him to transition into a pro as quickly as possible. It's just ... how quickly he can turn his habits.

"He got away with some things in juniors he's not going to be able to get away with (as a pro) and it's how quickly he can turn those habits. I thought he had a great game today."

Mantha, who played on a line with the Griffins' Martin Frk and Czech newcomer Tomas Nosek, didn't disagree.

"I think I played great," said Mantha, who turns 20 next week. "For sure I could get a little bit more (involved in the) defensive zone but I think we managed the offensive zone pretty well. We didn't have many opportunities to be in our zone.

"It does feel good. It's been a long time since a real game in the Mem Cup. It felt great."

Zach Nastasiuk and Ryan Sproul also scored for the Red Wings while goaltender Jared Coreau made 19 saves. Sproul scored with 51.4 seconds left in regulation after the Red Wings had pulled Coreau for an extra attacker.

Three of the St. Louis goals came on power plays, including one during a 5-on-3 in the second period that gave the Blues a 4-3 lead heading to the third.

St. Louis was 3-for-6 on the power play while the Red Wings were 0-for-2.

The Red Wings play the Columbus Blue Jackets at 7:30 tonight, Sunday is an off day for everyone and Detroit plays the Minnesota Wild at 7 p.m. Monday.

The position round is Tuesday.

In Friday's other games, Columbus beat Minnesota 6-4, Dallas beat the New York Rangers 4-3 in overtime and Carolina beat Buffalo 6-1.

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