Ilya Solovyov made a strong first impression in his Penguins debut, logging 16:51 alongside Ryan Shea on the third pair and turning his 19 shifts into plenty of impact.
His presence was felt early. He opened his evening with a heavy hit on Frank Nazar during a Blackhawks power play — a moment that caught the attention of goaltender Arturs Silovs.
“He looked great… huge hit in the first. Yeah, really noticeable,” Silovs said.
For Solovyov, that physical edge was what he hoped to bring.
“Just a regular moment like the coaches wanted from me,” he said. “A guy who can hit and make the other guys scared of me a little bit, especially on the wall. I saw the opportunity, especially against one of their top players.”
He also picked up an assist with a quick touch pass at the blue line that set up Shea’s goal. “I saw he was wide open and ready to hammer it,” Solovyov said. “I just tried to give him as nice a pass as I could to make sure he hit the net, because I knew it was a goal.”
By the end of the night, he finished plus‑3 with a hit and a block, and the Penguins controlled play with him on the ice, holding a 24–12 edge in five‑on‑five shot attempts.
“He’s thick, he’s strong, he’s heavy,” Dan Muse said. “It doesn’t need to be those big atomic hits. His physicality and the way he can get around pucks definitely showed tonight.”