Ilya Kovalchuk: "We appreciate the fans' support"

- It was an interesting match, it's always good to play against the leaders. We really need points at the moment. In these games, you see all of your best and worst qualities. I think that we absolutely deserved to win today. I even think that we played well in the second frame, despite conceding two disappointing goals.

- Is it possible for SKA to lose when you personally play so well?

- We have a lot of leaders in the team who should improve, me included. I can see and hear all the criticism, and it only fires me up more. I need to prove to everyone that I can play better.

- How is it playing with Anton Burdasov and Alexander Kadeikin?

- When I played with Alexander and Alexei Ponikarovsky we did well too, and scored in all the matches. Anton Burdasov is a great player, he deserved to be called up to the Russian national team. He has pace and a good shot. Probably people don't always see it, but he can give out good passes too like today. It's always good to play with such teammates.

- Your second goal was a replica of one of the markers you scored against Canada in 2008.

- No, in that game I shot into a completely different place of the net. At training we are trying to make our powerplay better, and today we did it.

- 450 SKA fans supported the team in Yaroslavl today.

- We were pleasantly surprised, a big thanks goes to them. Hopefully for all games that aren't far away from Saint Petersburg there will be such support. We play for them, and it's nice that they support us in a tough period. We appreciate that.