SKA - Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Press-conference

HC Metallurg Magnitogorsk head coach Ilya Vorobyov:

- It was a good, tense game. SKA applied pressure on us, but we held on and Juho Olkinuora kept us in it. I'm really happy that we didn't give up and subsequently won in the penalty shootout.

- Why is young forward Danila Yurov continuing to be included in the squad and then dropped?

- He can't play two games in one day! When we competed against Ak Bars Kazan, he had already played for Stalnye Lisy in the MHL. We thought that it was better for him to play 15-20 minutes for our youth team instead of just appearing on the ice for a cameo against Kazan.

- Why did you struggle so much in the third period?

- We started to make the wrong decisions on the ice, especially when in possession of the puck. Nevertheless, we have to give credit to SKA, they pressed us well, something which we had spoken about at our pre-game briefing. Juho kept us in the match for the opening 10 minutes of the third frame.

- In the summer, you made a lot of changes to your squad.

- Ice hockey is changing, we decided to sign a lot of technical players. Today, we saw two technical teams on the ice who like to put together combination plays, this is better in comparison to just sitting in defence.

- What has changed for you personally in Magnitogorsk? You seem in a good mood today.

- I am satisfied with winning! Furthermore, I am really happy to be back in Saint Petersburg, it's an incredible city. We're staying in the centre, and we had time to go to Palace Square and the Church of Spilled Blood. It is simply a fantastic city, the people who live here are very lucky!

HC SKA head coach Valeri Bragin:

- Both teams played well. We had enough chances to decide the outcome of the match in regulation time, but we didn't score and eventually lost on penalties. We will move on.

- What can you say about Alexander Volkov's KHL debut for SKA?

- Yes, it was clear that he hadn't played for a long time, but he moved well and had opportunities. I think that he will be one of our leading players, his mutual understanding with Nikita Gusev will improve.

- Why isn't Valentin Zykov playing? And where is Anton Burdasov?

- Valentin is ill, whereas Anton will soon be back.

- Mikko Lehtonen and Mat Robinson are playing 30 minutes per game.

- They are used to playing so long, they are calmly coping with the physical demands.

- Evgeny Ketov didn't appear in the third period. Why?

- We wanted to win the game, so we moved down to three lines to increase our speed. Everything worked, but we couldn't score.

- Igor Ozhiganov hasn't played for a while.

- He's injured.

- Did you feel Magnitogorsk's strength?

- They're a good team, I think that the fans enjoyed watching this match. We always like to compete in an aggressive manner, this is the SKA way of playing the game.

- Matvei Michkov, who is only 16 years of age, will soon join up with the senior national team. Doesn't this worry you?

- He's in good form at the moment, he has played a bit in the KHL and I think he will do well.

- Will the likes of Nikita Chibrikov and Fyodor Svechkov return to the senior SKA team at some point this season?

- They will now join up with the senior Russian national team, they will receive game time there. We will see with regards to the future.

- Oleg Znarok has been in the stands for SKA's last few matches.

- We have long been in contact.

- What can you say about Andrei Kuzmenko's unique way of playing ice hockey?

- He scored twice today, and he had opportunities to score even more. Let him play his way.