Igor Larionov speaks after competing against Spartak away

HC SKA head coach Igor Larionov:

"Our penalties had a large bearing on the result. Nonetheless, I would like to point out that Spartak displayed patience. They scored simple goals, getting the puck on net and searching for rebounds. This, unfortunately, is what we were lacking."

Factor of playing in two days in a row...

"Four fresh players were on the ice. Strong teams don't use the circumstances as an excuse, instead they always need to find a way to perform well and compete in the correct manner. I hope that this will serve as a useful experience for our guys."

Slow first two periods and strong third...

"As a consequence of the demanding schedule, we initially tried to save energy. We wanted to calmly withstand Spartak's pressure and make use of the counter-attack opportunities. But, when you take so many penalties, it affects the players' freshness. We went down to three lines in the third stanza when chasing the game.

"We did manage to create a handful of half chances. Our aim was to display our quality, patience and coolness in front of goal in order to force overtime, but we couldn't quite do it.

"In terms of personnel Alexei Maklyukov and Sergei Sapego were rested today, whereas Zakhar Bardakov and Linus Weissbach are out with injury."

Poor quality of the ice...

"It's embarassing. To be honest, I don't want to speak about it. What's the point? The result of the game can't be changed."