Kunlun Red Star - SKA. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Oleg Znarok:

- We managed to finish the road trip on a positive note. We feel tired, but it's nice that we're going home.

- A very energetic fan was sitting behind SKA's bench. Did he distract you?

- If we would have lost, you could say that he distracted us. However, on the bench the players were laughing about it.

- Are Sergei Shirokov and Anton Belov ready to play?

- Apart from Roman Rukavishnikov, everyone is skating. We'll see how they feel when we arrive back in Saint Petersburg.

- How are Ilya Kovalchuk and Vadim Shipachyov playing together? Is it hard to find the best line for Vadim Shipachyov?

- He has played with Nikita Gusev for a few seasons, so there's no problem. We decided to change things and see how he plays in a different line. Pavel Datsyuk is only training at the moment, so we're experimenting.

- Were SKA hoping that Nikita Soshnikov was going to come home?

- We expected him to be brought to the NHL, but we'll see what happens in the future.

- Was this road trip difficult because of the recent national team break?

- Only one SKA player stayed in Saint Petersburg, all of the others were with their national teams. The pace of the game is faster at international level. Taking this into account, I think that we did well.

- Before today's match, Ilya Kovalchuk had registered only one shot on target in four games. Today, he had ten shots. Why?

- He shot more.

HC Kunlun Red Star head coach Mike Keenan:

- I congratulate SKA with their victory. Today, they showed why SKA are the best team in the league. It's really difficult to play half of the season at the same level and only lose once in regulation. They have a great club, and they play a real team game.

- How much time do you need in order to rectify the situation?

- You always hope that things will improve in the next game.

- In the past, you stated that Kunlun have problems in attack, and not in defence. What can you say after today's match?

- We have played badly in defence in one game this season - today's. However, as I have already said, we were playing against the league's best team. We are not the only club to have problems against SKA. In other matches, we played well in defence.

- Kunlun have lost five consecutive matches. If this continues, you will have little chance of making the playoffs.

- I have already stated that we cannot focus on today's game and use it as an example. We played against the leading team. If you look at our other games, you'll see that we won or lost by a difference of only one goal. We have a good balance between defence and attack.