SKA - Lokomotiv. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

"Lokomotiv provided us with a stern challenge. It felt like a playoff game today, both teams competed hard and we could see just how well they had prepared for this game. Unfortunately, when the score was 2:2, we committed an error and were duly punished. We'll take away these penalties and win our next game.

"The atmosphere inside the SKA Arena was fantastic! It's wonderful to see the stadium so full. The management of the Montreal Canadiens were here? Yes, Vincent Lecavalier and Ken Hughes were in attendance. Of course, we will discuss the development of Ivan Demidov and how he can improve. Ivan had chances to score today, but instead of shooting, he decided to make passes. When playing against Yaroslavl, you don't need to try and dish out the extra pass, instead you must take responsibility and shoot. We will engage in more conversations with the Montreal management tomorrow.

"We started slowly? We have to remember that a lot of our players competed at the Channel One Cup, while the other guys trained at Hockey City. It's not an excuse, though, we lost this game because of individual mistakes. We will now prepare for Thursday.

"Matvei Korotky? He's a really talented forward who won the Kharlamov Cup with our youth team. Matvei will stay with us in the KHL, and we hope that he will receive minutes in our upcoming matches. We will hear his name many times in the coming years."

HC SKA forward Zakhar Bardakov:

"Until the third conceded goal, I believe that we did everything correctly. Unfortunately, we made one more mistake than Lokomotiv. The SKA Arena? It's wonderful playing inside this venue, the atmosphere is incredible and the stadium feels more like home than in last season's Gagarin Cup playoffs."

HC SKA forward Mikhail Vorobyov:

"Lokomotiv are our direct rivals for the Gagarin Cup. Just like our head coach said, this was a playoff-like match. We'll try and improve the details which will consequently allow us to win. The SKA Arena? We really do feel the fans' passionate support, they're our extra player on the ice."

HC Lokomotiv Yaroslavl head coach Igor Nikitin:

"It was a challenging game against a strong opponent. I liked how our guys played, they were solid in defence and took advantage of their scoring opportunities. We're happy with this win and will now prepare for our future games.

"What happened for the penalty which reserve goalkeeper Alexei Melnichuk received in the second stanza? The puck was travelling towards our bench, so he caught it in his glove. He thought that it had already gone out of play, but the referees had a different opinion.

"We're confidently leading the regular season table? We know that it means nothing when it comes to the playoffs. Were we fresher than SKA? No, I wouldn't say that, we had been training hard in Sochi during the international break. We were lacking freshness today, but I'm satisfied that we still emerged victorious."