Severstal - SKA. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Vyacheslav Bykov:

- We have a lot of players in our team who came through Severstal's hockey school, and as a result games here are very important for them. To some extent they all set the tone for today's game. In the first period we performed well, but with the start of the second we handed the initiative to the opponents. Unfortunately we also didn't take advantage of the opportunities that came our way, as even on the counterattacks we couldn't score. Severstal managed to come back, and it made it a tense game. We're lucky that we scored two minutes from the end. We want our players to shoot more, but they don't always believe in their own capabilities. Roman Cervenka did well though - he shot, and scored. I am satisfied with the result.

HC Severstal interim head coach Igor Petrov:

- SKA set a high tempo directly from the beginning of the match. For half of the first period we couldn't get close to them, and it was clear how they were fighting better than us and creating more chances. However slowly we got together, the forwards took the game by the scruff of the neck, and drew penalties from SKA while taking the initiative. We scored on our chances effectively. I would also like to thank Jakub Stepanek, as he kept us in the game. The closing phases of matches though are our downfall. We don't have enough concentration, and we have made the same errors for five or six games in a row. The players, who we trust for the final minutes, aren't making the correct conclusions. Roman Cervenka's technically brilliant shot allowed SKA to win.

- Pavel Buchnevich was a centre forward today, but he lost almost all of his faceoff draws. Did you not want to back up him with anyone else?

- Pavel Chernov has an injury, so Pavel Buchnevich took his place. Pavel lost a lot of faceoffs at the beginning of the match, but he then slowly started to pick it up. He played well down the middle, although he hasn't played for a while after the World Junior Championship. He didn't make any defensive mistakes, was concentrated, took the initiative and organised not only his own game, but the team's. He did well.