Press conference following KHL opener

HC SKA head coach Igor Larionov:

"Congratulations to everyone with the start of the campaign! In terms of today's game, then we expected it to be so close and hard fought. No friendly match can be compared to the tension and mindset which is present in official games. Moreover, we started the season at home. An awful lot happened on the ice, but all's well that ends well. We're happy that we earned the two points; it's better to start the season with a win than a defeat."

Lack of balance between defence and attack...

"We prefer winning 4:3 than 1:0 or 2:1. However, we need to score more goals. When you score, the opponents have to attack more and space consequently appears. Whenever we lose possession, we have to immediately work hard to win it back. As a result of Zakhar Bardakov's injury, we made changes to our line formations and some guys played more than we had originally planned. Overall, we can see that we lost the puck far too often."

Sergei Sapego's 1+1 showing...

"As a typical analyst, you're focusing on his points rather than how many times he gave up possession. I would rather he kept the puck better rather than tallying those points."

HC Lada Tolyatti head coach Sergei Zubov:

"In my opinion, it's fair that the game went to overtime and both teams got a minimum of one point on the board. There were a lot of opportunities on show and we managed to score good goals. Unfortunately, we conceded goals in simple situations which we had analysed beforehand."