Roman Rotenberg speaks after beating Torpedo in Nizhny Novgorod

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- We started well, scored goals and gained a psychological advantage which allowed us to win. It's great that Alexander Nikishin set a new record for SKA defensemen today, the previous one had been set by Sergei Zubov 13 years ago! We're happy that we are making history, but now we have to prepare for our next important match on Wednesday. Thank you to our fans for travelling here and offering us fantastic support, I think that everyone enjoyed the game.

- You've beaten Torpedo three times this season. Are they a comfortable opponent for you?

- We don't have any comfortable opponents. Torpedo are a strong team, they're beating plenty of strong clubs this season. Both SKA and Torpedo use similiar systems. We are happy with our line-up choices today, our players displayed excellent ice hockey and competed in the correct manner. Thankfully, we managed to use more of our scoring opportunities in comparison to our recent games.

- Did you have the target of immediately putting Torpedo to bed in the first period?

- This is our system. In our preceding match, we wasted three great chances to score in the

first shift, but the Cherepovets goalkeeper was solid. We normally have between 15 and 20 big chances to score per game! With the players we have in this squad, we must score at least three or four goals in every match. In the Soviet times, CSKA Moscow always used to score a few goals straight away. We want to do the same! Furthermore, we want to take less penalties and compete with more discipline. At the same time, in matches which are finely balanced, we must be solid in defence.

- SKA conceded two cheap goals in the third stanza.

- We conceded those goals as a consequence of our mistakes. Regardless of the score, we must maintain concentration and compete with full seriousness. Our players showed plenty of character and desire in the third period to subsequently score twice, but we have things to improve.

- You currently boast a healthy lead in first position.

- To be honest, our gap at the top should be bigger, but we made some mistakes in various games. By the way, I read that this game was sold out two weeks ago! Fans love it when teams compete like SKA and Torpedo, our style of ice hockey is attracting more people and children to become involved with our sport. Modern ice hockey doesn't involve just sitting in defence. Of course, we won't take risks in close matches, but we aren't going to move away from our principles.

- SKA last won the regular season in the 2017/2018 campaign, but then you lost to CSKA in the semi-finals.

- We changed our preparations for the playoffs as a result of it being an Olympic season. We had trouble qualifying for the quarter-finals, even if the series score against Cherepovets was 4-0 in our favour. 15 of our players won the Olympics that year, and it's only possible to play at your peak once during one single season. All factors must be taken into account. This is a unique season considering that we're playing every two days, and it's especially energy-sapping if you play high-tempo ice hockey like SKA, Torpedo or Dinamo Minsk. Our goal is to be watertight in defence and score plenty of goals in attack.

- Evgeny Ketov, Nikolai Prokhorkin and Mikhail Pashnin are all on the sidelines, and Maxim Groshev and Nikita Popugayev are in your lower lines. Do you really want to sign more players?

- Guys born in 2002 like Marat Khusnutdinov are playing. We have a lot of injured players at the moment, with some of them out for the season. Damir Zhafyarov could have received a very serious injury when he received a hit from behind. For us, the main thing is that our players maintain concentration all of the time in order to not receive potentially serious injuries. Arseniy Koromyslov was on the ice for 20 minutes in our last game, he was born in 2003 but he's already winning the competition within the team. There aren't any favourites, every player must earn his place in the line-up.

- Zakhar Bardakov replaced Marat Khusnutdinov in the first line with Nikita Gusev and Dmitrij Jaskin. Why?

- We're always searching for the key to victory. Sometimes, we make line changes during games themselves. You saw the superb pass which Bardakov gave to Jaskin for our first goal, it was in the style of Igor Larionov! We're satisfied with what we saw today.

- Nikishin broke Zubov's SKA record concerning the most amount of points by a defenseman during one particular KHL regular season.

- Sergei shoots with his right arm, whereas Alexander shoots with his left. It's wonderful that Sergei is one of our coaches! We're only just getting started. We're pleased that our players are setting records, but today was a team win. Every player is contributing to our success.