Press conference after SKA hosted Novosibirsk

HC SKA head coach Andrei Razin:

"It was a poor start. However, the three conceded goals woke us up and we subsequently played well for the rest of the game."

Artemiy Pleshkov's performance...

"I'm not going to criticise him. Artemiy had initially made a couple of tough stops, but then we noticed that he was playing in a nervous manner. I was more disappointed with the fact that we conceded three goals in such a short space of time."

Why Daniil Savin was selected...

"This is down to Maxim Semyonov, who is the SKA-1946 head coach. German Suzdorf and Artyom Vilchinsky had already made their KHL debuts, and there were three other young players who had been training with us. Makar Timashkov was one of them, but we decided to go with the other guys. We had the opportunity to give Daniil one shift in the third frame."

Thoughts ahead of hosting CSKA...

"The players will find it easier to recover after winning this match. Nonetheless, we know that CSKA are a completely different team with ambitious targets. They play in a systematic, organised manner, so I don't expect us to have so many chances like today. We have time to work on our defensive play."

Changes to the defensive approach...

"There are plenty of them! We want to start our attacking plays quicker, protect the puck, play in the correct manner at neutral ice and be solid when in positional defence."

Reasons why Daniil Miromanov and Nikolai Chebykin didn't play...

"It's nothing to do with their health."

HC Sibir Novosibirsk head coach Yaroslav Lyuzenkov:

"We started the first period well and ended it terribly. After we had taken the lead, we began to lose out in neutral zone. While defending, we needed to block more pucks and prevent SKA from creating so many opportunities. We then had enough chances to equalise, but the SKA goalkeeper was solid."

What happened after taking a 3:1 lead...

"We were second best at neutral ice. You don't just need quality to score goals; you also need it to not lose the puck at the blue line. We ended up losing possession, SKA broke, won faceoffs, capitalised on the rebounds and scored goals. Saint Petersburg have enough quality to capitalise on their opportunities."

Key goal at the start of the second period...

"It was an important moment in the game, but we did then waste a good opportunity through Anton Kosolapov to cut the deficit to one."

Challenge of playing a team which has just changed coaches...

"Players always try to display their best ice hockey in such situations."