Press-conference of game three against Dynamo

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

"First of all, I would like to thank the fans for the fantastic atmosphere which they created! The energy inside the arena was incredible. And, furthermore, we've set an all-time SKA attendance record with regard to the season as a whole!

"Our guys fought hard while remaining focused on themselves and the task at hand. We played with cool heads and deservedly won. This is the playoffs, we're taking it step-by-step. We'll now prepare for Wednesday."

On Dynamo's faceoff improvement...

"When the playoffs are being contested, it's better to let our work do the talking. Yes, I agree with you that faceoffs form an important component of our sport. The same can be said for rebounds, duels and blocks. We've analysed 700 pieces of data! Ahead of the series' fourth match, we will analyse the mistakes which we committed today and how we can improve. All of Dynamo's goals in the series have been scored as a consequence of us losing the puck."

Behaviour of Dynamo's foreigners...

"When our players play in the NHL, they don't act like the North Americans who compete here in Russia. Just ask Evgeny Kuznetsov. They need to respect our country and the culture. We could never get away with acting like that in the US or Canada! From our point of view, we need to control our emotions and play with confidence.

"The incident concerning the Dynamo water bottle being thrown towards the ice? After I looked at the video, I saw that it was Jordan Weal who did that. I remember when their head coach Alexei Kudashov did the same when working in Yaroslavl."

Why Sergei Plotnikov didn't play...

"We aren't going to comment on what's going on inside our team. We'll discuss everything when the series ends."

Evgeny Kuznetsov's first playoff goal for SKA...

"All of our players gave 100% for the team. Moreover, at the same time, I'm 100% sure that we can play even better. We must take it step-by-step, constantly improving in the process. Everyone did a great job today, including Evgeny. This is a true team win which was achieved because of excellent teamwork."

HC Dynamo Moscow head coach Alexei Kudashov:

"Not everything went as we had planned. In terms of its tension and manner, this game was similar to the first two which had been contested in Moscow."

Issue concerning the throwing of a water bottle...

"Weal was putting his bottle back, but the lid flew off. What has that got to do with me? By the way, with regard to the bottle incident when I was coaching Lokomotiv, I never meant to throw it on the ice. I threw it on the floor, but it bounced onto the rink. A similar thing happened with Weal today. I think that the footage shows what actually happened there."

How Dynamo got back into the match in the third frame...

"We were focused on getting the puck on net, playing with more aggression in attack. We played with more urgency. Our powerplay didn't work that well? SKA defended in a compact manner and their goalkeeper was solid."

SKA's powerplay improvement with Alexander Nikishin...

"They haven't actually changed anything. SKA's powerplay approach has remained the same, except for the fact that they now have Nikishin on the blue line. Their tactics haven't changed. SKA generally have six different PP options, so we know what to expect."

If teams play differently home and away in the playoffs...

"No, I don't think they do. Both teams know each other really well, there aren't any secrets. Overall, we can see that this is a very even series."

Why Dynamo conceded the decisive fourth goal immediately after equalising...

"It's a really poor goal from our point of view. Several mistakes were made during that particular shift."