Metallurg Novokuznetsk - SKA. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Andrei Nazarov:

- I congratulate Novokuznetsk with the win, they fought hard and played well. This game proved again that money doesn't play hockey itself. In my opinion the opponents wanted the win more than us. We will look into why this was the case.

- Do you agree with Vadim Shipachyov's 5+20 penalty?

- It's hard to say. If the opposing player got injured, then yes.

- There is an opinion that SKA have lost a lot of quality after a number of players left.

- You can't say that we have improved or got worse after this game. A coach should be able to motivate his team, and I take full responsibility for this. In sport you need emotions, desire, and for half of this game we didn't have any of that. It was too late to start playing with the score 1:4.

- When the team's were announced, why didn't the first line skate out first?

- I don't know. It's nothing serious, they probably didn't skate on the ice in time.

- The media are speaking about your behaviour on the bench. Does this worry you?

- It's not my problem.

- Did you have to shout at your players today?

- Every game I have to shout. When we play like that, you have to.

- Before the season you spoke about wanting more from Anton Burdasov. How has he been doing so far?

- It's hard to look at one individual player. The team lost, I can't blame just one person. The team began to carry out the game plan when we were down by three, but during that time the opponents took their foot off the gas too. It was too late.

- When will Ilya Kovalchuk come back?

- I can't tell. We will look over the situation when we return to Saint Petersburg.

HC Metallurg head coach Nikolai Solovyov:

- We were scared about playing SKA after they lost to Sibir. I am thankful to my guys however, and Andrei was right, desire can sometimes be the most important thing. We scored important goals at the start of the game. At the end of the game SKA showed that they are a skilled team, the Gagarin Cup champions, but I am happy that we held on even if we gave away a lot of energy.

- What is wrong with Viktor Postnikov?

- I don't know, He left the game and probably has an injury. I don't think that he will play in the next game. The doctor will have a look at him now, and will tell us all the information. We have Mark Skutar, Nikita Kamalov and Nikita Lyamkin to replace him though, and we will have a think before facing Riga.

- Did you plan to take maximum points from this home series?

- No, it's difficult to make predictions. The main thing is that we play well. The championship is long, goals will become apparent. We want our players to last this marathon. I will speak honestly - I didn't think that we would take points off SKA.

- What went through your mind when putting Kirill Kaprizov in the first line?

- He played with Ryan Stoa in the first line beforehand too. The most important thing for me is that he will grow into a star, a second Sergei Bobrovsky from Novokuznetsk. A forward though of course.