Roman Rotenberg speaks after playing Salavat Yulaev in Ufa

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- There was a great atmosphere inside the arena. I think that everyone enjoyed the game, both teams displayed excellent ice hockey. Our discipline let us down today, we spent a lot of the match playing shorthanded. There were chances to equalise, but we couldn't take advantage of them. We knew that this was going to be a tough game, Salavat defend well and we had lost a lot of emotions in Chelyabinsk. There will be changes to our line-up in the next match. We need more energy and sporting aggression.

- Mikhail Vorobyov has more than 30 points and is strong at faceoffs. How have you managed to help him improve?

- Mikhail is a talented player. He's looking a lot better physically this season, and he needs to be in good shape taking into account just how quickly we like to skate out from defence into attack. Mikhail has great ice hockey IQ, he sees the ice excellently, but he knows that we can help him take the next step. We can see his progress, however he can play even better.

- Salavat were dangerous on the counter-attack. Did you struggle when 0:3 down?

- No. We've already saved a lot of matches from difficult positions this season. However, as I have previously said, we must stop putting ourselves in these tough situations. It takes a huge effort to make big comebacks. Discipline plays a key role, we have to worry about ourselves instead of arguing with the referees. By the way, for Salavat's first goal, there was contact with Vladislav Podyapolsky's pads. The referees told us that the decision was made in favour of the attacking team, but hopefully they'll say the same thing if we score a similar goal in the future.

- Why did SKA give Ufa so many counter-attacking opportunities and miss the empty net?

- I think that it was down to concentration. We missed the empty net on three occasions today. If you have a chance to score, you must capitalise on it. Maybe fatigue was a factor, we had a serious match in Chelyabinsk and subsequently held a tough training session. We also have to take into account the size of the ice, it's a larger rink here than in Saint Petersburg. Nevertheless, we have to be able to play our ice hockey on any rink, who knows who we will face in the playoffs. This was a good lesson for us today.

- Given how many penalties you took in the second stanza, how difficult was it to prepare your players for the third period? A lot of your leading attacking players weren't on the ice for the second frame.

- It's our job to make sure that the team is prepared! You could see just how much desire our players had in the third period. I don't have any issues with their commitment, but we have to start capitalising on our chances to score. When we took off our goalkeeper for the extra skater, we had enough opportunities to equalise. Our players have to be more focused when presented with a chance in front of goal.

- Arseniy Koromyslov made an unexpected pass towards onrushing teammates in the second period. Were you surprised yourself?

- No! Arseniy is a fantastic player who skates excellently, he is capable of making passes like that. Instead, I was surprised that his teammates couldn't knock the puck into the empty net!

- Ufa goalkeeper Ilya Ezhov said that he always enjoys playing against SKA. How much did you enjoy playing against him?

- Ilya was great for them today, I would like to congratulate him with the win. We won the Gagarin Cup in Saint Petersburg together. When a goalkeeper is locked in, you have to block his view and crash the net on the crease. In future matches, our ruthlessness in front of goal must improve. Nikolai Prokhorkin should compete in our next game, and Zakhar Bardakov is continuing to recover in Saint Petersburg. We're also waiting for Dmitry Nikolaev to return, Podyapolsky is practically playing on his own at the moment in our net.

- Even when you were trailing 1:4, you swapped the goalkeeper for the extra skater again and applied pressure on Ufa.

- Our task is to win. Until the game clock ends, we will do everything possible in order to emerge victorious. The Canadians always compete with this attitude, and it's something which we must use as well. I would like to point out that at all of SKA's away games, the arenas are always sold-out. We want more people to get involved in ice hockey, more children to join academies.

- Last year, when you signed Vorobyov, could you have imagined that it would be such a fantastic trade?

- It will be a good transfer when we win the Gagarin Cup! I know Mikhail well back from the days when he played in one line with Kirill Kaprizov at the World Junior Championship, he's a really talented guy. However, talented players relax sometimes. I know how to help Mikhail improve as a player. Talent isn't enough, hard work and discipline are also required.