Roman Rotenberg speaks after playing Lokomotiv in Yaroslavl

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- First of all, I want to thank the fans for creating a wonderful atmosphere inside the stadium. I would like to congratulate Lokomotiv with their victory, they're a strong, well-coached team. We enjoy playing against opponents like Yaroslavl. Our life is spent travelling on planes, and the guys' legs are heavy. It's physiology, you can't do anything about it. At times, we were lacking the required freshness to take advantage of our scoring opportunities, but Daniil Isaev was fantastic in the Lokomotiv net too. We must avoid taking so many penalties in future games. Before our next series of matches, we will have a rest for a couple of days. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the Ice Palace on Tuesday! Our ice is 26 meters, whereas in Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl it's 28.

- Do you have issues with your defence?

- Are you talking about the first goal? Our defensemen don't have the right to leave the crease vacant like they did in that incident. I think that this mistake was committed as a consequence of fatigue, the guys are tired and we have a lot of injuries. Thankfully, we will have the opportunity to put fresh players into the line-up when we play in Saint Petersburg next week. We will achieve positive results as a result of our hard work and quality.

- Did you expect Lokomotiv to continue attacking in the third frame?

- I know Igor Nikitin well, so there weren't any surprises. Lokomotiv were excellent, the simplified their game and gave us the puck. We tried to get the puck to the crease, but Yaroslavl possess one of the KHL's strongest defences. In the future, we have to crash the net harder and shoot more. Moreover, if Isaev will play like this against everyone in the league, then a lot of teams will lose points against Lokomotiv.