Nearly a month after being claimed off waivers by the Penguins, Vladislav Kolyachonok suited up in a game in the Penguins' 4-1 loss to the Avalanche here in Denver.
Kolyachonok skated in the Penguins' third pairing alongside Vincent Desharnais. He skated in 11:26, all at even strength, and recorded two shots on three attempts, one hit and one block.
Kolyachonok led Penguins defensemen in all on-ice offensive share metrics -- with him on the ice, the Penguins controlled 73.08% of shot attempts (19-7), 76.47% of unblocked shot attempts (13-4) and 81.82% of shots on goal (9-2). No goals were scored in either direction, but the Penguins had a massive 1.24-0.17 expected goals lead in that span, which indicates that if this keeps up, the quality and quantity of chances should eventually result in good things in the Penguins' favor.
“I thought Vladdy was good, his mobility was evident” Mike Sullivan said. “I thought he was getting back to pucks. I thought he made some really nice plays with the puck. He defended well with his stick, but his mobility was probably the thing that jumped out at me the most.”
Kolyachonok, after sitting so long on the sidelines, was just happy to play an actual game.
"I was just very excited to be there," Kolyachonok told me. "I tried to prepare as much as possible, learn how to do it. And the guys were great. They helped me with a lot of the structure and supported me there. So I really appreciate it, and I think it's not a bad start. Unfortunately, the team didn't get the result."
Kolyachonok admitted that the first period was "kind of not easy" after not playing a real game for so long, but he feels as if he settled in fine after that.
If this was what the Penguins get out of Kolyachonok when he didn't feel great for a third of the game, then it's going to be interesting to see what kind of impact he can make once he settles in and gets more games under his belt moving forward.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• This was Bryan Rust's 620th game with the Penguins, surpassing Ron Schock for the 10th-most by a skater in franchise history. Next up? Ron Stackhouse, who played 621.
• The third line of Danton Heinen, Kevin Hayes and Emil Bemstrom had a nice game. No goals were scored in either direction with all three on the ice at five-on-five, but they dominated in every on-ice offensive share metric. They did also see the highest share of offensive zone starts, which surely helped.
• That being said, it would be nice if Bemstrom would find a way to shoot a fraction more. This is a guy who was regularly getting 6-8 shots a night in the AHL as the season went on, and he's had one a game every game this season. Obviously, the NHL is a giant leap up, and you can't expect him to replicate his AHL success up here. But the drop-off isn't always quite so steep.
• Sidney Crosby finished 15-7 in faceoffs. Pretty solid, most of those losses came late. At one point he was 12-1.
• I don't believe P.O Joseph is on this trip. With him on injured reserve, he wouldn't be able to return until the last Minnesota game at the earliest anyway.
• Layne Matechuk, a former Humboldt Broncos defenseman and survivor of the 2018 bus crash, dropped the ceremonial first puck. Matechuk has always been a big Penguins/Crosby fan and was previously brought out to Pittsburgh to meet Crosby in 2019. Matechuk missed his high school graduation when he was hospitalized following the accident, and Crosby surprised him back in that 2019 trip by presenting Matechuk with his diploma inside the locker room.
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THE ASYLUM
Taylor Haase
7:34 am - 03.05.2025DenverLoose Pucks: Kolyachonok 'good' in debut
Nearly a month after being claimed off waivers by the Penguins, Vladislav Kolyachonok suited up in a game in the Penguins' 4-1 loss to the Avalanche here in Denver.
Kolyachonok skated in the Penguins' third pairing alongside Vincent Desharnais. He skated in 11:26, all at even strength, and recorded two shots on three attempts, one hit and one block.
Kolyachonok led Penguins defensemen in all on-ice offensive share metrics -- with him on the ice, the Penguins controlled 73.08% of shot attempts (19-7), 76.47% of unblocked shot attempts (13-4) and 81.82% of shots on goal (9-2). No goals were scored in either direction, but the Penguins had a massive 1.24-0.17 expected goals lead in that span, which indicates that if this keeps up, the quality and quantity of chances should eventually result in good things in the Penguins' favor.
“I thought Vladdy was good, his mobility was evident” Mike Sullivan said. “I thought he was getting back to pucks. I thought he made some really nice plays with the puck. He defended well with his stick, but his mobility was probably the thing that jumped out at me the most.”
Kolyachonok, after sitting so long on the sidelines, was just happy to play an actual game.
"I was just very excited to be there," Kolyachonok told me. "I tried to prepare as much as possible, learn how to do it. And the guys were great. They helped me with a lot of the structure and supported me there. So I really appreciate it, and I think it's not a bad start. Unfortunately, the team didn't get the result."
Kolyachonok admitted that the first period was "kind of not easy" after not playing a real game for so long, but he feels as if he settled in fine after that.
If this was what the Penguins get out of Kolyachonok when he didn't feel great for a third of the game, then it's going to be interesting to see what kind of impact he can make once he settles in and gets more games under his belt moving forward.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• This was Bryan Rust's 620th game with the Penguins, surpassing Ron Schock for the 10th-most by a skater in franchise history. Next up? Ron Stackhouse, who played 621.
• The third line of Danton Heinen, Kevin Hayes and Emil Bemstrom had a nice game. No goals were scored in either direction with all three on the ice at five-on-five, but they dominated in every on-ice offensive share metric. They did also see the highest share of offensive zone starts, which surely helped.
• That being said, it would be nice if Bemstrom would find a way to shoot a fraction more. This is a guy who was regularly getting 6-8 shots a night in the AHL as the season went on, and he's had one a game every game this season. Obviously, the NHL is a giant leap up, and you can't expect him to replicate his AHL success up here. But the drop-off isn't always quite so steep.
• Sidney Crosby finished 15-7 in faceoffs. Pretty solid, most of those losses came late. At one point he was 12-1.
• I don't believe P.O Joseph is on this trip. With him on injured reserve, he wouldn't be able to return until the last Minnesota game at the earliest anyway.
• Layne Matechuk, a former Humboldt Broncos defenseman and survivor of the 2018 bus crash, dropped the ceremonial first puck. Matechuk has always been a big Penguins/Crosby fan and was previously brought out to Pittsburgh to meet Crosby in 2019. Matechuk missed his high school graduation when he was hospitalized following the accident, and Crosby surprised him back in that 2019 trip by presenting Matechuk with his diploma inside the locker room.
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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