SKA - Dinamo Minsk. Press-conference of game two

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- This is an important win for us. Thank you to our team for this performance, the guys competed with determination and as a united group. We can feel relieved for half an hour, but then we have to start working hard again.

- SKA produced an excellent performance today. Did the defeat in game one affect you heavily?

- All players should take the step to the next level in the playoffs, it's a completely different tournament in comparison to the regular season. Dinamo Minsk are a strong team, they have plenty of players from North America who try to provoke you and get under your skin. Instead of taking the bait, we should score goals instead.

- Did you have doubts about which goalkeeper to put in net?

- No, I didn't. By the way, some of our injured guys are on their way back. I won't name names, but the brilliant work of our medical staff is allowing our injured players to return. I think that you will see some new faces on the ice in game three. Will Marat Khusnutdinov be put back in a line with Marat Khairullin and Damir Zhafyarov? Let's see, we always reveal the line-up an hour before the match is scheduled to begin.

- Dmitrij Jaskin returned to the ice after receiving a nasty injury in the opening stanza.

- We have to give credit to our captain, he showed the rest of our team the kind of determination which is required at this level. Dmitrij is displaying the qualities of a true captain.

HC Dinamo Minsk head coach Craig Woodcroft:

- We expected SKA to come out hard. I felt that SKA's third goals were gifts from us, we weren't good enough in front of our net and the opponents won the battle for a 50/50 puck for their third marker. After the first period, we improved and showed belief. We worked our way back into the game, creating good opportunities in the third period. Had we scored instead of hitting the post, the outcome could have been different. Our effort was good, but our recipe wasn't there. The fact that we lost this game ourselves instead of SKA beating us is empowering for us.

- Will Joseph Duszak and Shawn Lalonde return to the line-up in Belarus?

- They're injured at the moment. We're taking it day by day.

- These two matches in Saint Petersburg were very different. What can we expect to see in Minsk?

- I don't think that these games were different. In this match, we didn't battle hard enough in front of our net. We know how SKA play, and they know how we play. It's all about who executes. If we could have capitalised on our opportunities, the result could have been different. We hit the post and their goalkeeper made some saves. This isn't going to be an easy series, but we're hungry and we have belief.

- Is being physical and playing on the edge of committing fouls the only way to cope with such a powerful SKA team?

- No, I don't think so. Like I said at the beginning of the series, we respect SKA, their coaches, their players and their talent, but you can't actually show much respect on the ice. You simply have to go after them. However, you must do this in a disciplined manner. Teams which have been successful against SKA are systematic and stick to their plans. You have to play SKA hard, compete with belief and use the right recipe. I believe that we will fix our issues.

- Did Cedric Paquette compete with too much emotion?

- I am yet to watch the incident in which he received a 5+20 penalty. Cedric always plays hard, they know it and they can feel it. We're glad that he is on our team. Our Belarusian players like Timofei Kovgorenya, Roman Gorbunov and Sergei Sapego are also competing with a lot of fire, it's not just isolated to our Canadians. This result is on us, we've already discussed this. We want to make sure that we have the right recipe for game three.

- These two matches were the first in the KHL playoffs for goaltender Konstantin Shostak. What can you say about his performances?

- He competed extremely hard and displayed excellent goaltending.

HC SKA forward Vasily Glotov:

- The main thing is that we managed to win in front of our supporters, this will allow us to compete on the road in a positive mood. Minsk are playing a North American brand of ice hockey, they're trying to get under our skin. My goal? I was in the right place in the right time, my teammates picked me out with a great passing move and I aimed the puck in. Having not played for a while, I was full of energy and desire today, I really wanted to help the team win. We weren't ourselves in the first match, but we displayed our brand of ice hockey in this game.

HC SKA forward Svyatoslav Grebenshchikov:

- All of the matches in this series will be physical, but we need to stand tall to the challenge. Everyone understands the importance of not taking penalties in the playoffs, so we must always compete with discipline and not reply to the opponents' provocations. After game one, everyone in our group knew that we had to make a huge improvement to our performance level. We will continue competing in our own style.