Lada - SKA. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Sergei Zubov:

- It was a hard game today. Right from the off we got into a tricky situation. In the third period we worked a penalty out of Lada, and you can say that we were lucky. A lucky bounce helped us to take two points.

- What did Ilya Kovalchuk say to the referees when a penalty for too many men was indicated?

- As far as I know, Ilya skated over to listen to what they were discussing. Afterwards, he told us that we weren't to be punished.

- Are you satisfied with the refereeing?

- It was the same for both teams.

- Did Lada's small rink play its part for the hosts?

- Yes, the zone is smaller. There were more opportunities to attack the net from any point on the ice, from any distance. You move forward, and already you can make a shot. Our task today was to shoot as much as possible. That's how our winning goal was scored: there was the initial shot, a rebound, and it went in.

HC Lada Togliatti head coach Artis Abols:

- The first SMS which I received said this: "You lost beautifully, what else can you say". This game showed what level we are on and why. The game was great until we took that penalty. Even if the referees could have let us off, we gave them a reason to whistle. There was no need to raise the stick in that incident. We gave the referees a reason to call a penalty, and lost. These small things have been deciding the results in all of our recent matches. Sometimes we didn't clear the puck, didn't shoot, took a penalty, had a good bounce. At times we are relaxing, begin worrying, however today we could have been left with nothing. Thank God, Evgeny Dadonov missed the net or Edgars Masalskis made a save. Overall, this is our level. You need maximum concentration: we can play with any team, but any small incident and the opponents punish you.

- Why did you change the first and fourth lines around?

- Something wasn't good enough, and during the game I tried to change things around with these lines. Before SKA's first goal, we should have scored ourselves. Our effectiveness in front of goal let us down.

- During the first two periods, your team had a lot of chances. Why did you attack less in the third? Did you want to play more cautiously?

- No, it's psychological. You know that you aren't favourites to win, and then suddenly you see that time is running down and you are beating SKA! As the end became closer, we became more robotic and played more passively.

- Edgars Masaslkis had trouble getting up at times. He has fully recovered from his injury?

- He's simply older than Ivan Kasutin.

- Can we expect another five match winning series after this defeat?

- I am always waiting for that myself.

- Have you missed playing in front of a full house?

- It's nice. I would like to reward the fans with three points and a solid game, but you go home not knowing whether to be upset or happy. We could have had three points, but at the same time we also could have been left with nothing. It's like our game with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, when we equalised with ten seconds remaining. This is hockey, it's what makes it special.