SKA - Ak Bars. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

"We had lost a lot of our emotions while playing in Moscow against Spartak and Dynamo. Nevertheless, our guys tried their best. I understand the fans' frustrations, we're obliged to win at home regardless of the circumstances. We want to emerge victorious in all of our matches.

"In my opinion, we evened the game out after our rocky start and had enough chances to equalise. Timur Bilyalov made a large number of top saves for Kazan, but we really should have capitalised on the opportunities which we managed to create. The main thing is that we're creating chances to score; you only need to worry if you're not managing to create opportunities.

"Unfortunately, Artemiy Pleshkov felt a sharp pain during the first period. He thought that he would be ok to carry on, but the injury has turned out to be more serious that he originally assumed. Artemiy won't play on Thursday, and we're not sure as to how much time he will spend on the sidelines. He's our strongest goalkeeper physically, Artemiy always plays in a proactive manner and helped us win four matches on the bounce. Pavel Moisevich and Yegor Zavragin will now form our goalkeeping tandem? Stanislav Berezhnoi and Gleb Saranchuk are in the mix too.

"We will now prepare to fly to Moscow tomorrow. Hopefully, our injured guys such as Evgeny Kuznetsov, Sergei Tolchinsky, Sergei Plotnikov, Marat Khairullin and Arseniy Gritsyuk will soon be able to return. Tolchinsky should play against Vityaz in Moscow Region on Thursday. 

"Why did we continue to concede after Pleshkov's departure? Our forwards didn't track back and help out in defence. Ivan Demidov is receiving a lot of praise in the media at the moment, but on the bench we spoke about the importance of tracking back in time and playing correctly in the defensive zone. We also have to remember that our guys are emotionally drained following our two really difficult wins in Moscow."

HC Ak Bars Kazan head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin:

"We knew that with the backing of 20,000 fans, SKA would probably want to start on the front foot. As a consequence of this, we decided to immediately apply pressure on them. Following our goals, SKA opened up and took risks, and we managed to take advantage of the extra space available. We scored good goals and worked hard as a team.

"Was it a special game for Alexander Barabanov and Nikita Dynyak taking into account that they were both born in Saint Petersburg? Yes, I think it was. Their families were inside the stadium. 

"We understood the importance of maintaining full focus across the entire 60 minutes. SKA did improve in the second stanza and made it an even game, but the decisive factor is that we didn't allow them to build momentum."