Sergei Shirokov: "Lokomotiv play at a fast tempo"

- The opponents had a lot of shots on goal.

- Our goalkeeper played excellently. We weren't good enough during the first half of the match. The key moment was our goal at the end of the second period. It became easier in the third, as we picked Lokomotiv off on the counterattack. However, we won because of our netminder today.

- Your line was great. Why?

- Today, we managed to take advantage of our chances. Lokomotiv are a good team, they at a fast tempo. It's hard to play against them because they keep possession. You cannot give them the puck at neutral ice. The first game showed how they can counterattack, they scored four goals because of our mistakes. We need to draw the right conclusions and begin matches better than we did today.

- Did you expect Lokomotiv to play like they did?

- This is the Western Conference final. We began poorly, but we got it together. The goalkeeper and the goal at the end of the second stanza helped us.

- It seemed as though SKA were provoking Lokomotiv's young second line?

- Ice hockey is a contact sport. We don't pay attention as to who we are playing against. All of us try to do our jobs and play to the rules. However, sometimes emotions take their toll. I took an uncessessary penalty in the previous match. Now, we need to analyse these two games again and play well in Yaroslavl. It will be really tough there.

- Did you stick to the game plan?

- We tried to be disciplined. The first half didn't go our way, but we corrected our mistakes and won.