Roman Rotenberg speaks after beating Vityaz in Balashikha

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

"We followed the game plan, fought for each other and played with discipline. We have to look at which players allowed Vityaz to shoot for the two goals which they scored. We emerged victorious because we won the duels across the ice, while our goalkeeper was also excellent and made the big saves.

"By the way, I would like to congratulate Vityaz with their 1000th KHL match! Hopefully, they will have another 1000 games ahead of them. We knew that they would fight extra hard today as a consequence of this celebration, but we also fought hard.

"Our first-period performance was passive? We still managed to win it. I'm pleased that we're continuing to score more goals than anyone else in the league, we have a lot of talented guys who are capable of scoring all of the time. We have to congratulate Ivan Demidov, who has set a record concerning points among players under the age of 20! I liked how Ivan and Matvei Korotky competed on the flanks today, both of their lines scored.

"Artemiy Pleshkov's injury? It's similar to the one which Yaroslavl goalkeeper Daniil Isayev suffered. We don't know how long he'll be out for, but Artemiy won't play in our upcoming matches. You can't just rely on one goalkeeper, though, and I thought Pavel Moisevich was excellent in our net in this game. He deserves to be our goalkeeper at the moment. I would also like to point out Yegor Zavragin, who is also 19 just like Demidov and Korotky. They will all help Russia defeat Canada in the future!

"Defensive mistakes allowed Vityaz to create lots of chances? It depends on not only the goalkeeper and defensemen, but the forwards as well. We always want our forwards to help out in defence. Yes, we did concede twice in this match, but overall I think that we defended well. Moreover, we are continuing to score the highest amount of goals in the KHL while creating lots of chances along the way. Vityaz are a strong side, I don't know why they aren't in the playoff zone. 

"Information is suggesting that Evgeny Kuznetsov will play against Dynamo in Moscow next Tuesday? We hope that he will be able to compete. Marat Khairullin is also coming back. I think that around two weeks are required for Sergei Plotnikov, Ivan Zinchenko, Arseniy Gritsyuk and the other injured guys to return. I would also like to point out the work being put in by our goalkeeping coaches Maxim Sokolov, Yuri Klyuchnikov and Andrei Komissarov, they're doing a great job and Moisevich's performance today proved this.

"I would also like to talk about our Red Machine ice hockey sticks, which are currently being produced. They are better than the equipment produced by Bauer and CCM! Here I offer my gratitude to Alexander Ovechkin, who started to produce his own sticks. The small details make the difference. I'm sure that in the near future, everyone in Russia will play with domestic sticks."