SKA - Kunlun Red Star. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

“Teams such as Kunlun and Nizhnekamsk are trying to prove that they should be in the playoffs. This game will serve as a useful lesson. Regardless of the circumstances, we’re always obliged to win at home. I share the supporters’ frustrations, so now we have to win our next game here on Tuesday in order to make up for what happened today.

“Kunlun are a really organised team in defence, they made life difficult for us and have a lot of right-handed players. I believed that we would equalise while playing 6-on-5 in the closing stages, we had enough chances to score more goals. When competing with the extra skater, you have to win every battle, every duel. Yes, we scored twice while playing without the goalkeeper, but it wasn’t enough.

“Artemiy Pleshkov should return for Thursday against Spartak Moscow. Our powerplay? Special teams are decisive in the playoffs. We did score a couple of PP goals today, but our conversion rate needs to be higher than 25%. Furthermore, we have to stop conceding goals while on the powerplay. Nevertheless, if we look at the big picture, we can see that our powerplay is improving. We’re forcing the opponents to commit fouls at important times.

“Our performance in Cherepovets was our best of the season so far. Maybe the short break in play played a factor today. Overall, though, we are playing better on the road than at home. We have to perform better in Saint Petersburg, the fans deserve positive results.

“Ivan Demidov? This was probably his best game since the All-Star Weekend. Evgeny Kuznetsov is playing better on the wing at the moment, but he will play in the centre again in the future if required.”

HC Kunlun Red Star head coach Mikhail Kravets:

“The wonderful atmosphere here helps not only SKA, but also opposing teams. Thank you to the fans for the support which they gave us. We won this match because of our team spirit, speed and mindset. We had to soak up a lot of pressure and catch them on the counter, which we did. Of course, it’s great when we manage to beat such a strong team like SKA, but, at the same time, we’re losing to Sochi. This is a really big problem for us.

"Was I surprised that SKA swapped the goalkeeper for the extra skater so early? No, not at all. I asked Viktor Ignatyev to instruct the players how to play while competing 5-on-6, because we regularly see SKA pull the goaltender with plenty of time remaining. SKA had done the same thing against us earlier on in the campaign.”