Roman Rotenberg speaks after beating Severstal away

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

“This was our fourth consecutive away game, so consequently it was a tough evening for us. Nevertheless, our guys deserve credit for how they followed our plan and executed our ideas. In terms of our movement and commitment, maybe this was even our best performance of the campaign so far. This proves that we’re moving in the right direction, especially considering that the playoffs aren’t far away.

“The only thing which I didn’t like about this game was the incident when Cherepovets player Mark Barberio refused to fight Pavel Akolzin, I had never seen this before. Fights are a part of our sport. Just look at the recent match between the US and Canada, in which the two teams displayed plenty of sporting aggression. We need more physical play.

“I would like to congratulate our team with this positive result, we’re balancing our team and we can see how our lines are playing productively. Evgeny Kuznetsov was excellent on the wing. I would also like to congratulate Yegor Zavragin, who is progressing with every passing game. Yegor is the only 19-year-old goalkeeper in the league who plays as the number one! Injured guys such as Artemiy Pleshkov, Sergei Plotnikov, Arseniy Gritsyuk and Ivan Zinchenko will soon return.

“Matvei Korotky’s impressive form? As you saw today, he’s on the ice during the decisive moments of matches. He always plays with plenty of commitment and puts his body on the line. Korotky, Ivan Demidov and Yegor Zavragin are all developing well, they listen to us and follow the tactical plan.”