SKA - Avangard. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- We saw the team's character today, everyone fought until the end. I have no issue with the players. Our performance level is there, and the positive results will come. I would like to ask the media to refrain from criticising the team, the guys are giving everything. Unfortunately, today we almost witnessed a death on the ice when an opponent continued punching Ivan Zinchenko in the head after their fight had reached its conclusion. If Zinchenko had been struck in the temple, he would have died. This is completely unacceptable! Why is this being allowed to happen? There are no rules in the KHL. We must take the required steps to make sure that this nonsense stops right now. Zinchenko has been left with a scar for the rest of his life.

- In terms of team play, how would you summarise today's performance?

- We conceded too many goals. Some of our players - including our goalkeeper - returned to the team after injury. In front of goal, it's positive that we have started scoring goals again. We now have to prepare to play Vityaz in Moscow Region and Spartak in Moscow, these are games which we need to win. We would like to play at home more often, but that's not a decision for us to make.

- Your players seemed to struggle against Omsk goalkeeper Andrei Mishurov.

- We had the same problem against Kazan, when their goaltender Timur Bilyalov saved nearly all of the 45 shots which we unleashed. We need to block the goalkeeper's view and crash the net. For our first goal today scored by Stepan Starkov, we did manage to capitalise on the rebound. This is what we must start doing more often. A lot of our players such as Mikhail Vorobyov, Brendan Leipsic and Stepan Falkovsky are all still out injured, but we want to improve our level further on Saturday in Balashikha.

- Zakhar Bardakov was furious with the referees late in the third period.

- He was full of emotion after seeing Zinchenko covered in blood in the dressing room. If Zinchenko had been struck in the temple, we would be having a different conversation right now. In the third frame, while we were playing 6-on-4, the referees missed a foul which had been committed against Bardakov. As a consequence of that foul, he couldn't track back in time. It was the decisive moment of the game. We're playing at home, the stadium is full, but some people don't have any conscience.

- What did you make of Pavel Moisevich's display in net? At times he did seem a bit nervous.

- Pavel is yet to concede a single goal in the KHL. What issues can I have with him? None! To be honest, I should have probably substituted him on earlier.

- SKA have now lost three in a row. Is the team feeling the pressure?

- The main thing is that we win the final match of the season and lift the Gagarin Cup. The players don't read the press, so no one is feeling under pressure. You saw everything for yourselves today. Strength is in the truth.

- Will SKA qualify for the playoffs? Is this becoming a realistic question?

- Our task is to qualify for the playoffs as the first seed. Nothing has changed. The gap between the teams isn't large, we're playing in accordance with a two-point system. I think that you know yourself that SKA will qualify for the playoffs and play excellently.

- What's happening to Nikita Serebryakov? He was the best KHL goaltender last season, but with SKA he's conceding cheap goals.

- Nikita received a serious injury while playing against Sochi. Understanding our situation, he had the courage to play today. Our other goalkeepers are all injured. The goalkeeper is never to blame, instead we have to stop committing individual errors. When Mikko Koskinen joined us in 2014, people also started criticising him after we subsequently lost a few matches in a row, but then we won the Gagarin Cup with him. I have faith in all of our players.

HC Avangard Omsk head coach Mikhail Kravets:

- It was a challenging, tense game against a very strong team. Both teams displayed good ice hockey today. I'm happy that we showed character and courage, and Mishurov was excellent in our net. I liked how we competed with structure. Yes, while leading 4:1 we did start defending too much, but sometimes our players do lack confidence. We're satisfied that we earned two points and took a small step forward in terms of our performance level.

HC SKA defenseman Alexander Nikishin:

- We drew the wrong conclusions following the first stanza. Nonetheless, we came together as a group in the third and tried our best to turn the situation around. We have to take the positives from this match into our upcoming games. Serebryakov? All of us support him. It's our fault, we're committing too many defensive mistakes which are allowing the opponents to score. He often keeps us in matches with his great saves.

HC SKA forward Vasily Glotov:

- We must focus on the positives and build on them on Saturday against Vityaz on the road. The fight between Zinchenko and Mark Verba? The latter continued punching Zinchenko when the fight had already ended. Zinchenko couldn't do anything, both of his arms were being held. I hope that the media don't ignore this incident, it was a very dangerous moment. We're not playing as a team in attack? No, I wouldn't say that. We are a creative group, all of us like to improvise in the attacking zone. We unleashed a lot of good shots today, but they all seemed to drop inches wide of the target. This is ice hockey, these things happen.