Nikolai Belov: "We were patient and a bit lucky"

- How did the first game go?

- It was wonderful! We won, thank God.

- Was it really hard?

- You saw for yourselves that it was really tough. We were patient, didn't concede, and were a bit lucky too.

- For the first time out of five attempts the team has defeated Dynamo. How have you managed to break them down?

- Maybe luck was on our side today. Dynamo couldn't score, and we did.

- What would you say about their goaltender?

- A goaltender is half of the team. Maybe his defencemen didn't help him out.

- Do you have enough reserves to go again tomorrow?

- I think that the squad will stay the same, generally coaches don't shuffle around winning teams. We have half the day tomorrow before the match.

- There was a feeling that the team found it hard getting going. Did you correct something in the first break?

- We played more defensively. In some aspects things went well, in others not. In the end we did what the coaches wanted us to.

- Did the coaching staff ask you to forget about what happened during the regular season?

- Yes - the regular season and playoffs are completely different things. Here one mistake can lead up to winning.

- How important is this victory psychologically?

- Winning the first game in this round is a good start. We will begin tomorrow's game with new emotions.