SKA - Amur. Press-conference

HC Amur Khabarovsk head coach Andrei Nikolishin:

- It was a good match, both teams are in good playing form with the calendar the way it is. Points have the weight of gold, and today we needed them more than SKA. Nevertheless, both teams played to win. It's good that we were patient and took advantage of our chance in overtime. We had problems psychologically before this, but today we held on and won.

- How did you prepare the team for this game? Amur were disciplined and played to win.

- You have practically answered this question yourself. Discipline can beat class. Since beginning work together, we have spoken with the guys about this. We are trying to make them understand that hockey is a game of character, and that you cannot relax for a second. I am thankful to the guys, they stuck to the game plan and showed character.

- How have you adapted working in Khabarovsk?

- Amur have lived by Novosibirsk time as to not have the big difference between Khabarovsk and Moscow time - we've gone for something in the middle. As a result, we always train in the afternoon. Today our movement was good, and physically the guys feel good.

HC SKA head coach Sergei Zubov:

- I congratulate the opponents with their deserved win. Also, I want to apologise to our fans for such a poor game. It's hard to win when you don't play sixty minutes.

- Why couldn't the team get fully pumped up?

- Yes, we didn't take Amur seriously enough. We will look into why this was the case.

- Is Maxim Sokolov going to leave? He was watching the game in the stands.

- No, he's a member of our coaching group. His functions have changed a bit, but everything's practically the same as before.

- Jari Kaarela has joined the coaching staff. What is his role?

- He works with the goaltenders.