SKA - Avtomobilist. Press-conference

HC Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg head coach Bill Peters:

- It was clear from the start that nothing was going our way.

- Why did your players play so badly on their own crease?

- We weren't organised enough. Ahead of this match, we had performed well in some games. Today we were poor at both ends of the ice.

- When a team goes on such a bad run, we often hear rumours of problems within the group.

- As I have already said, we played well in our previous matches. Due to many reasons, today nothing went right. Our players couldn't show their best ice hockey in the first period.

- Do you feel the support of the management?

- I am in constant contact with the management all of the time. For example, we recently spoke about the transfer of Sergei Shumakov. We all understood that we needed to strengthen the team's attacking line. At the moment, we're speaking about the trade deadline and upcoming international break. I'm trying to fully concentrate on my job at hand. We haven't had any negative conversations.

- What do you think about Sergei Shumakov's performance today?

- Today, as you understand, is not the best day to speak about that. It's a terrible evening to start talking about players' individual performances. However, he did try to control the puck and unleash shots on goal. We'll see what he is capable of when we return home. We need our players to compete as a team.

- Will the international break help you?

- Yes, it will. We have a lot of things to improve. We'll change our tactical approach.

HC SKA head coach Valeri Bragin:

- We had a very serious approach for this game, I'm grateful to the guys. We started really well and scored our goals. In the second period, we lost our concentration a bit when on the five-minute long powerplay, but overall it was a good performance.

- What did you speak about after playing against Dinamo Riga on Monday?

- We had a serious conversation about how it really was unacceptable to play in front of our fans like that. You have to treat all opponents seriously. That conversation worked and today we played well.

- Which is the real SKA? What we saw on Monday or today?

- We're building the team through these matches. The first period today is what we want to see.

- Stepan Starkov was in the team today. Is it a risk to play such young players?

- Competition aids progress. The best players at this moment in time are on the ice. If Stepan continues playing like this, he will have a place in the line-up.

- Which of the seven goals did you like the best?

- I liked our goals on the powerplay.