Roman Rotenberg speaks after playing Avangard in Omsk

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

“The atmosphere was the best which we have played in away from Saint Petersburg. The infrastructure here in Omsk is fantastic, the ice is of excellent quality and the same can be said for the air inside the arena.

“Both teams tried their best to win. Unfortunately, we conceded two goals in the first period, but nevertheless the guys subsequently showed their character and played with the puck for the latter two frames. We paid for the fact that we wasted our opportunities during the second stanza.

“We must stop taking unnecessary penalties, a lot of our fouls are being committed while we’re dominating. Am I concerned by the fact that we’ve lost five games in a row? No, we’ve been in these situations before. We have strong, tough guys in our team. Certain details of our game need to improve. We have to give credit to Yegor Zavragin in our net, he’s performing well and improving with every passing match. We have to start capitalising on our chances in our upcoming games.

“Sergei Tolchinsky was put in the first line despite having missed our preceding matches? He’s been training really well and is a leader of our team. We have to thank Sergei for this game, he tried his best and provided us with energy. Sergei Plotnikov hasn’t scored since October? Ice hockey is a team game, we’re not going to blame anyone individually. Evgeny Kuznetsov did well today considering that he’s only just returned from illness.

“Kuznetsov’s penalty resulted in Omsk scoring their winning goal? All of our players need to improve their discipline, not just Kuznetsov. The KHL Draft? Let’s not break our system. Parents invest an awful amount of money into their children, so let’s not allow clubs and agents decide their futures without their participation. There are a lot of risks attached to this situation. Personally, I know that agents phone our players regularly, this happens with our senior guys too. Any poor decision can affect the future.”