This winger's sudden scoring drop could haunt the Pittsburgh Penguins playoff push

A month ago, Anthony Mantha looked like the exact kind of middle six winger Pittsburgh needed, big body, quick release, calm hands around the crease.

Now it feels like every game has the same frustrating script, one more good look, one more missed net, one more sigh.

Mantha is sitting on 14 goals and 30 points this season, and the Penguins have needed almost every one of them.

The part that stings is how sudden the drop has been, he has zero goals in Pittsburgh's past 10 games even though he keeps getting chances. Everyone sees it.

Here's the post that kicked this whole thing back into focus.

The timing is brutal because Mantha's heater helped stabilize lines when injuries and matchup nights turned the bottom six into a blender.

He's still averaging about 15 minutes a night, so this is not a guy stapled to the bench and forgotten.

What's changed on the ice is the «finish,» not the effort, the puck is getting to scoring areas, but the final touch is late, off balance, or right into the goalie crest.

When Mantha is rolling, he scores two kinds of goals, quick catch and shoot on the man advantage, and greasy rebounds at the top of the paint.

As a fan, this is the exact stretch that makes you mutter «not now,» because you can live with a cold week in November, not when every point feels like a tiebreaker.

The other issue is lineup gravity, when a winger goes quiet, coaches start shifting him around, and that messes with linemates who are already trying to find rhythm.

If he's on a unit with a pass first center, Mantha has to be the trigger, and right now that trigger is hesitating.

If he's with shooters, he has to win those corner battles and be the net front bully, and lately he's arriving a half second after the puck.

He's 31, a 2013 first round pick, 20th overall by Detroit, so the book on him has always been streaks and confidence.

The Penguins do not need him to turn into a star, they just need one big goal to flip the feeling back, and you can sense the bench waiting for it.

If that goal comes soon, this ten game drought becomes a footnote, if it drags, it becomes the story heading into the stretch run.

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