SKA - Ak Bars. Press-conference

HC Ak Bars Kazan head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov:

- We kept control of the game well. We didn't begin well in the first period, but we did well in the second and third. I am satisfied with the result and the performance.

- Why haven't Ak Bars played like this beforehand?

- We have issues inside the team, and they are being resolved slowly. We are not where we should be in the table. Nevertheless, we prepared well for this game and the guys did what they should always do.

- Your first powerplay unit was excellent.

- I would want them to score more goals. They play the puck around well, but can't finish their plays off. We had a five on three today, and should have scored.

- How do you deal with the criticism?

- The criticism is fair. We don't have enough stability. Personally I take criticism well, and try to make the guys understand the issues which need sorting. It's a question of phsycology, probably.

HC SKA coach Maxim Sokolov:

- I agree that we began well, we were aggressive in the first period. We scored a good goal, and then conceded on the counterattack at the end. Ak Bars were stronger in the second, put on the pressure and created chances. We failed to equalize in the third as a result of too many needless penalties.

- Why hasn't Andrei Nazarov turned up to the press-conference? Has he left?

- I will only answer about the game, that is my responsibility.

- What is going wrong with the team? You have only two home wins, and some players didn't appear in the third.

- I agree that we are playing very poorly at home. We've scored only two goals in the past three games. Sadly we couldn't score on the powerplay today, and maybe because of this some players didn't play.

- Was it the coaches' fault that the team took a too many men call in the third period?

- We need to understand whose responsibility it was.

- Andrei Nazarov has often spoken about the fact that the team's leaders aren't performing well. Why was especially Vadim Shipachyov so bad?

- It's difficult to say. If our leaders will keep on playing like this, then we won't have many chances of winning serious matches. We need to talk and find out what the real reason behind this is.

- Is there a crisis within the team?

- Yes, when a team has so little points after a large number of games, it's probably true.