SKA - Spartak. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

"Thank you to our fans for packing out the SKA Arena! Unfortunately, we couldn't repay them for their faith with a positive result.

"Given that Spartak had lost in Cherepovets, we had warned our guys that they would be determined today, but the opponents were more focused at the start of the match. We created some chances ourselves in the first stanza, before we subsequently conceded a cheap goal as a result of individual mistakes. I'm even more disappointed that we didn't manage to score a single goal. Ahead of Saturday, I think that all of our players will look at themselves in the mirrow and draw the required conclusions. Some of our guys are ill and others are injured, but we're not going to make excuses.

"We will display more commitment in our upcoming away games in Moscow and Yaroslavl. Far too many individual errors were committed today, and we didn't play with enough emotion. Nonetheless, we also have to give credit to Spartak, they're a strong side and their goalkeeper Artyom Zagidulin was solid. Spartak provided us with both a challenge and a lesson.

"Why did we give Artemiy Pleshkov a chance in the second period? We wanted to change something up in order to spring the team into life. We didn't swap the goalkeeper for the extra skater in the third period? We weren't scoring goals. I felt that we could score five or six against CSKA in Moscow in late December, but it wasn't the same today. We failed to capitalise on our opportunities.

"The scoreline suggests that Spartak were lucky? You have to deserve luck. When you play against a team which defends so well like Spartak did today, then you need to take advantage of the chances which fall your way. The game would have turned out differently had we scored during the opening stages.

"Tony DeAngelo is always speaking to the officials? Spartak like to get under our skin. 

“It was a playoff-like game. The opponents tried to get under the skins of our players, but this is a part of the sport. In the first shift, Veniamin Korolyov used a physical approach against Arseniy Gritsyuk. However, Gritsyuk didn’t give up.

“He continued playing. It was an interesting match. Of course, I’m always striving to ensure that our guys apply their emotions and energy to achieving positive results. We cannot lose concentration. We’re speaking to all of our players about this, including Tony.

“We need to score goals. Even when you score three or four goals, you still need to respect your opponents. You can skate next to their bench and smile. But, I agree that this is unnecessary.

“This is a part of the game. In North America, it’s a part of their culture. Those who have travelled here from the NHL speak to the referees more regularly, as they always communicate with the officials.

“I also don’t understand this. Why do we need to constantly speak to the officials? However, it’s a part of hockey. Our cultures are different.

“In any case, I want all of our players to apply their energy to our teamwork and wins. This also includes Tony. It’s vital.

“He will score more goals if he stops becoming distracted. We will concede less goals. Today, as you have rightly pointed out, we didn’t use our emotions to either win or display teamwork.

“Instead, we used our emotions for discussions with the opponents on the ice. This is completely unnecessary. We have to get rid of this and only think about how we can help the team win.”

HC Spartak Moscow head coach Alexei Zhamnov:

"Our guys did a great job! This was probably the first match of the season when we played excellently throughout the entire 60 minutes. 

"What did we say to our players during the break between the second and third periods? I know how they can relax during games, so we focused on the importance of that happening again. I'm happy that we played our game from the first to the last minute today.

"Zagidulin was excellent in our net, but all of our players deserve credit. We punished SKA for their mistakes and converted our chances. Even before we scored, it was clear that we were counter-attacking well. You can never relax against SKA, though, they're difficult to stop once they gain the initiative and boast plenty of quality. Our goalkeeper made the big saves to keep them at bay."