I guess Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Muse saw this output coming from Connor Dewar.

A career high 13 goals … before Super Bowl Sunday.

“He’s a really good hockey player. He plays the right way,” Muse said Thursday night. “For me, it’s not surprising.”

It sounds like Muse also had 17 goals and 21 assists from Anthony Mantha before the end of January on his Bingo card.

“He’s absolutely got the ability to do that. His shot. He sees things well offensively. He can make those tight area plays,” Muse said.

“He’s shown that over the course of the year. No surprise there.”

In fact, none of what the Penguins roster is doing is surprising to him. Not …

• Justin Brazeau’s career-high 25 points in 38 games.

• Ryan Shea’s career-high 21 points.

• Ben Kindel’s 24 points as a rookie.

• Egor Chinakhov’s three game-winning goals since joining the team earlier this month.

• Stuart Skinner’s 1.72 goals-against average in January.

None of that is surprising?

“We believe in our guys. So … no,” Mused shrugged. “As a coach, this is what you want to have. I see it every day in practice. This is what they are capable of doing. I have seen the work that they put in.”

OK. Muse says he’s not surprised. He probably feels like he has to say that. That’s fine.

As a collective, though, no one expected 65 points and second-place status in the Metropolitan Division before the Olympic break out of these Penguins.

Also, as individuals, no one could have possibly anticipated those statistics from most — if not all — of those players listed above.

Dewar in particular. He had two more goals during the Pens’ 6-2 romp over Chicago on Thursday.

Connor Dewar ties it ???? pic.twitter.com/Gb6uMxP7RU

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) January 30, 2026

Connor Dewar scores AGAIN‼️

The Chicago Blackhawks seem to be handling their 6-1 deficit well ???? pic.twitter.com/qeOdpUkxfM

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) January 30, 2026

Those goals gave the Manitoba native 21 points on the year, surpassing his previous career high of 19 in 2023-24 when he split 74 games between Toronto and Minnesota.

For a while, after he was acquired last year from Toronto, I wasn’t even sure if he was the best “Connor” in the trade. Conor Timmins actually had a pretty good start for the Pens. Now he is in Buffalo, and Dewar is shining in Pittsburgh.

“He is going around the net. His last couple of goals I can remember are right around the net. It’s paying off,” Mantha said.

While Dewar may be the most surprising of the bunch in terms of his offensive output, Chinakhov is the most important. If his toolbox remains unlocked in Pittsburgh after ups and downs in Columbus, his high-end shot and skill could prove to be a major offensive injection for this year and beyond.

Already with six goals since moving down Interstate 70 from Columbus, Chinakhov is proving to be an inspirational muse of sorts for linemate Evgeni Malkin.

Evgeni Malkin with the smooth ???? to Egor Chinakhov ????‍???? pic.twitter.com/Y6kgwpGGpq

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) January 30, 2026

“We’ve liked what we’ve seen. The hope is that things continue to just build with more time together,” Muse said recently.

We have to appreciate where Muse is coming from when he tries to tamp down his level of surprise when it comes to these individual accomplishments and the overall team level of success.

I get it. If he says any of this is surprising, then it’ll sound like he never believed in the first place. That’s a bad message to send to a team who — let’s be honest — may not quite be sure if they should believe what they are doing yet either.

I’ll be surprised on his behalf. I’ll allow myself to be. I’m not sure how any impartial observer couldn’t be.

And sometimes surprises can be fun.

Watch: Tim Benz and Joe Starkey talk about the Penguins, Steelers, Pitt football and more in the first episode of “Beyond the Bylines”

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