2022 Nikolai Puchkov Tournament. SKA - Severstal. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- I would like to congratulate everyone with this home victory, it was important to make our fans happy today. We always want to win. The guys did a good job, they followed the game plan and played in accordance to our system. We will now prepare for tomorrow's match.

- Can you already tell us what changes will be made to the line-up for tomorrow?

- We will now have a conversation about that. We'll see who feels fresher, talk with our fitness coaches and make our decisions.

- This is the final stage of preparation before the KHL begins. What are your goals for this competition?

- We want to work on our system. We worked well in Sochi, and before that we had trained hard in Novogorsk. We want to show what we have been working on. We saw some positive things today, whereas other aspects require improvement.

- SKA struggled at the start of the game. Are your players tired after the training camps?

- We have engaged in a large amount of work this summer. Everyone copes with the demands differently, a lot of the guys in our team now had never trained like this previously. It's normal that the opponents were fresher in the first period. We had to show our character, and our guys on the penalty kill did a fantastic job. We held on, showed our character and subsequently scored important goals. We worked harder than the opponents. We have to give Severstal credit, though, they have a strong team which created a lot of difficulties for us. We're now looking forward to tomorrow's important game.

- Can the line consisting of Marat Khairullin, Marat Khusnutdinov and Damir Zhafyarov play like the line made up of Evgeny Dadonov, Vadim Shipachyov and Artemiy Panarin?

- They are completely different lines and players. Time will tell. We can see that the guys are ready to become leaders for us, they are playing with responsibility and scoring important goals for the team. They are modern players who compete in defence and attack, this is crucial for our system. We are always looking at the great Soviet lines and striving to become better.

- Why have you decided to make Dmitrij Jaskin the captain of your team?

- We are always looking at the current situation. We held a good training camp in Sochi, Dmitrij was excellent and trained at the highest level. He is a great example of how to work hard on the crease and give everything. It's vital that we have a united group. Our assistant captains are Marat Khusnutdinov, Igor Ozhiganov and Stepan Falkovsky, and we have other experienced guys like Mikhail Pashnin and Andrei Pedan who have only just joined us. Everyone is prepared to be a leader. The main thing for us is that the team wins games.

HC Severstal Cherepovets head coach Andrei Razin:

- Overall, we played well. We had a poor stretch in the second period when we ran into penalty trouble. We didn't lose out in the second and third periods, the pre-season continues for us. We will draw conclusions and move on.

- In the opening frame, you wasted three successive powerplays after taking the lead. What was lacking?

- Goals. In our preceding pre-season matches, we had scored quite a few powerplay goals. Sometimes, you have days when the puck doesn't go in. Today was one of those days.

- What role do you have for defenseman Nikolai Demidov? And will he play here in Saint Petersburg?

- Yes, he will play tomorrow. We engaged in regular negotiations with his agent.

- Yegor Morozov, Nikita Guslistov and Adam Liska were on the ice for the first overtime shift. Which one of these players was responsible for defensive duties?

- We don't have many defensemen right now, so we decided to give them a rest seeing as we have an early game. We decided to experiment.