It was a resounding win Thursday in which the Pittsburgh Penguins outshot the Chicago Blackhawks 37-9 over the final two periods, pulled away, and kept going.

The game was not only an exposition of the Penguins’ skill sprinkled throughout the lineup, but the debut of heavy defenseman Ilya Solovyov, and another crack at the NHL for 21-year-old rookie Rutger McGroarty.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now had the chance to chat with a few players this week about their opportunities and what they want, and got an unexpected fist bump from one of the players, who also had some thoughts about parking in the snow.

**Given the troubles we’re having this week with the platform changeover, the story is free to all rather than PHN+. Hopefully, but next week, we’ll have you all squared away, and it will be running smoothly.

It’s been that kind of week for the Penguins, who have won five in a row and have points in eight straight and 14 of 16 (12-2-2).

Solovyov played his first game with the Penguins Thursday. He was solid, delivering a couple of nice hits, properly moving the puck on most occasions (not counting the first period, when the team largely stunk), and maintaining a clean crease.

The Belarusian defenseman is a gregarious sort. His English is broken, but he conveys a certain humble happiness to be with the Penguins; it’s a relief, really, and after getting a healthy diet of pressbox nachos in Colorado and a couple of demotions, he’s also just glad to be in the NHL.

Behind the scenes, trades can be intense, especially on the road. Solovyov reported to the Penguins while they were in Calgary, so he was with the team for the last few games and was obviously not able to settle in Pittsburgh until the team returned on Monday.

Also, Thursday was the first time he had to drive to PPG Paints Arena. That’s not always an easy task for anyone, but for a newbie to the city and arena, it can be daunting. This reporter has seen more than a few players hustling to beat the 5 p.m deadline because of unexpected traffic or construction.

“Yeah, I’ll probably get there much earlier than I should,” he quipped when we asked him about getting to the arena. “And I’ll have to find parking.”

You know that the new guy has to park in the snow, right?

At this point, Solovyov inhaled, held it for comic effect, and replied flatly, “No.”

The 6-foot-3, 208-pound defenseman is a big guy. Some don’t necessarily fill the measurements on them, but Solovyov is clearly as big, if not a little heavier, than listed. He’s beefy. He’s also a good guy. After I ended the media scrum by teasing him about parking in the snow, I was surprised to see a fist bump waiting for me.

That’s not something I would ever do to a player, but if a player wants a bump for his first media scrum, sure, why not? He made sure to bump everyone in the scrum.

It’s far too early to tell how he’s fitting in or if he’s worthy of a regular NHL spot, but he had a solid debut.

There’s also a little something to be said for a couple of Russians (or allies) in the locker room. Evgeni Malkin was having a time Thursday morning, too. He doesn’t speak to the media on game days, but he was lobbing some chirps and having a good time with Egor Chinakhov and referencing Solovyov, too.

Malkin had a few one-liners about past geopolitical alignments that would have had them rolling in Russia, but I’m not sure Chinakhov was old enough to understand. It didn’t matter. They laughed anyway.

Egor Chinakhov

Perhaps you’ve seen Chinakhov’s wrist shot. It’s on his stick, and it’s gone. There’s a little bit of magic as his release is so quick, but the velocity so great. It’s not dissimilar from Nikita Kucherov’s wrister.

Chinakhov, 24, was just putzing around after practice at the municipal rink in Vancouver. You can see his agility and that shot. If you can follow the puck from ice level, you’re ahead of me.

Chinakhov is in a good mood lately. He’s free from whatever was holding him back in Columbus, he’s playing with a Russian legend (Malkin), and he has six goals in 14 games with the Penguins.

If you’re extrapolating that to an 82-game schedule, that’s a 35-goal pace. The important thing for the Penguins and general manager Kyle Dubas is that none of what Chinakhov has done to this point seems like a hot streak or out of the ordinary.

The performance and offensive numbers to this point have been earned and consistently within the context of the 5v5 game.

Chinakhov has an old-school Russian mentality and is very soft-spoken, at least with the media. He was certainly yelling back to Malkin as they laughed. We can’t post the audio of our short conversation because it’s barely audible, and if you weren’t there, it’s almost impossible to know what he said.

In keeping with that hard Russian mentality, when we noted how well things have been going and asked how he felt he was meshing with Malkin and Tommy Novak, he quickly took a hard line that he wants to keep improving.

“Yeah, I feel good, but we still have some things that we can improve on,” he told PHN. “We have to keep communicating, keep going, and that would be good.”

The fact is, he is getting better, not regressing, which makes his offensive output through 14 games with the Penguins entirely replicable. There’s clearly a camaraderie with Malkin. And adding Novak’s puck distribution skills to that scene has been the right tonic.

The thing about Chinakhov that everyone underestimated was his defensive work. He skates backward like a defenseman. He keeps his responsibilities.

If he plays hard defensively and has that shot, what exactly was former Columbus coach Dean Evason punishing him for?

So, what would he like to improve?

“Well, everything. (PHN gave him a surprised look). No, really. If we want to play our game, we have to see every detail.”

Ah, the traces of the hard-nosed Viktor Tikhonov are still felt in Russian hockey a generation later. And with that, on a game day, we concluded our quick chat.

“That’s it?” he shot back.

That’s all. For now. The talking has been on the ice, and he might become the best trade get for the Penguins in a long time. A potential 30-goal scorer for a second and third-round pick.

Not bad.

But if the line does improve everything, that might be something. Just don’t tell Columbus.

Tags: Egor Chinakhov Ilya Solovyov Pittsburgh Penguins

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