SKA - Lada. Press-conference

HC Lada Togliatti head coach Artis Abols:

- I congratulate Oleg Znarok with SKA's victory. As we expected, SKA began aggressively. In the first period, we took two penalties and our goalkeeper had a lot of shots to save. Nevertheless, we managed to score a goal on the counterattack. We fought hard for the result during the first two periods, but we couldn't win in the third.

- Why were you given a penalty?

- That's a question for the referee. I simply asked why Sergei Plotnikov could play in the next shift if he had been hurt so badly, I didn't use any offensive language.

- Jiri Novotny received the 2+2 penalty, but it was actually Alexei Kirillov who fouled.

- They were both next to the situation. A penalty was given.

- After SKA's match against Severstal Cherepovets, Oleg Znarok told SKA's opponents to play simple ice hockey. Did you listen to that advice?

- Yes, of course.

- Why couldn't Lada score a second goal?

- The guys tried their best. It was a difficult game.

HC SKA head coach Oleg Znarok:

- It was a tough game for us today, Alexander Lazushin played really well for Lada. We were caught out on the counterattack for Lada's goal, but we had told our players not to lose the puck on the blue line. We had a lot of chances to score goals, however we took advantage of them in the third period.

- SKA had lots of shots, but only scored three goals.

- This often happens. Probably, we need to be more professional with our goalscoring opportunities. We were a bit unlucky on some occasions.

- In Cherepovets, you stated that some mistakes will be punished. Which penalties will be dealt out before playing Avtomobilist?

- Mistakes are committed every game. There were less errors today, but our defensemen got mixed up for Lada's goal. Mistakes were made, however they weren't systematic errors.

- What did you mean when you asked teams to play more simple against SKA?

- I stated that phrase on my emotions. I can't describe it now.