ST. LOUIS — Forward Anthony Mantha capped off his first regular season with the Pittsburgh Penguins in a surprising fashion.
He led the team in scoring.
During the Penguins’ regular season finale, a 7-5 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the Enterprise Center, Mantha scored his 33rd goal of the season and finished the campaign as the Penguins’ leader in goals.
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— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) April 15, 2026
Not Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
No, 31-year-old Anthony Mantha, who missed most of last season with a torn ACL in his right knee and never scored more than 25 goals in any of his previous 10 campaigns as an NHLer.
“Obviously, I’m super happy,” Mantha said. “If you told me this when I signed here, I don’t think a lot of people would have believed it, including myself. Maybe I wouldn’t. But here we are. We need to take an extra step, including playoffs, and help this team as much as I can.”
After joining the club as a free agent signing in July, Mantha had a lengthy discussion over the phone with coach Dan Muse in which both agreed that reaching the 30-goal mark was an attainable pursuit.
“It’s all on him, Muse said. “We had a conversation. What did he want to accomplish, what we wanted to accomplish. I distinctly remember that conversation. I’m really happy for him. When somebody comes into the year, especially coming off an injury like that, then the work that goes into the summer with goals in mind and wanting to really just attack the opportunity and attack the season. Then to see him do it, it’s great.
“Now, the job’s not done. That’s going to continue on into the postseason now, too.”
Meet McGroarty in St. Louis
Penguins rookie forward Rutger McGroarty scored his third goal of the season on Tuesday in a familiar space.
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Rutger McGroarty scores right off the face-off to put the Pens up 1-0 ???? pic.twitter.com/kMAQ52Njz5
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) April 15, 2026
He tallied his first career goal roughly one year prior in St. Louis during a 5-4 overtime loss, April 3, 2015.
“I’m just trying to help the team win,” McGroarty said. “Overall, I think my game has gotten better and better each game. I’m just trying to help the team win and play the team game and bring what I can bring.”
In his second season as a professional, the 22-year-old McGroarty has bounced between the NHL and American Hockey League rosters throughout the campaign. His latest recall to the NHL club has come as the Penguins opted to rest veterans with second place locked up in the Metropolitan Division.
As a result, reserves such as McGroarty have been given auditions of sorts. This past weekend, Must called on those players to use those opportunities to display that they can earn a place in the lineup for the upcoming postseason.
Did McGroarty maximize his opportunity?
“I feel like you can always do more,” McGroarty said. “There’s a couple of things that I want to clean up. We’re all pros. We’re always trying to achieve our best. I liked my game. I’m just going to try to grow it.”
On Wednesday, the team assigned McGroarty along with forwards Rafael Harvey Pinard, Avery Hayes, Ville Koivunen and Joona Koppanen to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
Double-dipping in net
During Tuesday’s loss, the Penguins pulled goaltender Stuart Skinner after the first two periods and replaced him with Arturs Silovs for the final period.
Both goaltenders labored behind a porous defensive effort. Skinner stopped 17 of 21 shots while Silovs made seven saves on nine shots and absorbed the loss on his record.
That decision wasn’t necessarily based on performance or even health-related concerns. It was almost akin to how teams will split goaltending duties in preseason games.
“I had discussed with the staff,” Muse said. “Not necessarily saying anything was set in stone but if there was an opportunity to present itself, just to get both guys some work. That was something we were looking to do. Just decided to, based on we started giving up more than we needed to.
“I felt like (Skinner) had gotten a good amount of work. Going into the game, looking to get (Silovs) a little bit of work in this game as well. It’s a unique time in the sense that we have a good chunk in between games for both guys. We were hoping to get a little bit of that.”
Note: The Penguins had a scheduled day off Wednesday. … Penguins defensive prospect Brady Peddle, a third-round draft pick (No. 91) in 2025, signed an amateur tryout contract with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the remainder of the season.