SKA – Spartak. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- I would like to thank the fans who attended the stadium today, we’re grateful to each and everyone of them. It was a tough start to the game. It’s a difficult schedule for us this year, tougher than last season. However, we have to successfully cope with it. For this game, a lot of the guys who were previously on the sidelines with injuries returned to the line-up. It was a risk, but a long season is ahead of us and we need them to regain shape through matches. I would like to point out that the players displayed the ice hockey which we want to see in the third period, if we continue like this in the next game we will be victorious. The tight schedule doesn’t allow for us to train a lot.

- How serious is the injury suffered by Andrei Pedan?

- Unfortunately, it’s a serious one. He will be on the sidelines for a long time. We would like to wish Andrei health. We were counting on the team playing for him today, and the guys did try. Zakhar Bardakov displayed character and commitment to block pucks with his face while competing shorthanded. We are currently in the process of building our team, but we’ve had a conversation within the group and the guys understand the situation. We need to play our brand of ice hockey for the entire 60 minutes.

- What happened during the maiden two periods?

- As I have already said, a lot of the guys on the ice today hadn’t competed in our previous games. If we don’t allow them to play, then we won’t be able to build our team. Yes, this is a challenging period for us, but the team is coping with the demands. There are a lot of reasons why we didn’t start well, but our goalkeeper did manage to keep us in the match with his excellent saves. We also have to thank Spartak, who gave us a good game. They defended really well too. Guys like Valentin Zykov, Bardakov and Arseniy Koromyslov were solid, especially when taking into account that it was their first match of the season. For Spartak’s first goal, Alex Galchenyuk couldn’t clear the puck, before a ricochet resulted in the second conceded marker. We’ve lost a lot of energy after our recent road trip, and we now have to get back into shape through our home matches. We are obliged to win our upcoming three games at home. Everything is achieved through hard work.

- Physically, the players looked as though they found it tough going today. Are their legs still heavy after pre-season?

- We are fatigued after participating in four away games in different cities, which consequently meant that we had to fly a lot. The schedule was different last season, as we had started the campaign at home. Nonetheless, this is not an excuse for today’s result, we must improve. The players will be better physically on Friday.

- Ivan Morozov produced an impressive performance for Spartak. How would you summarise his performance?

- I’m not going to rate how opposing players played, that’s a job for the Spartak coaching staff. Ivan’s a great guy, we know that because he played for SKA. I would like to wish him health and success.

- How satisfied are you with your powerplay effort?

- We’re creating a lot of opportunities. When presented with scoring chances, we’re lacking level-headedness and freshness. While playing 6-on-5 and 6-on-4, we protected the puck, entered the attacking zone effectively and controlled the flow of the game. Instead of making passes, we simply needed to shoot more and block the goalkeeper’s view. Once the guys start scoring their goals, everything will be fine.

- The sold-out Ice Palace didn’t expect to see SKA lose without scoring a goal.

- We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our next game. This is a difficult period for us, but we’re together and we will win. We lose and win together. With such fantastic fans, we will achieve the victory in our next match by any means possible. In order to be in peak form for the playoffs, we need to gradually gain form throughout the campaign. At the same time, though, our task is to win every game. We’re defending our Continental Cup, and we want to be in a position where we will start every playoff series at home in Saint Petersburg. If everyone plays like Bardakov who blocked pucks with his face, we will be fine.

HC Spartak Moscow head coach Alexei Zhamnov:

- Why did it take Spartak so long to open the scoring? You had plenty of scoring opportunities.

- Overall, our guys did a great job. Even when we couldn’t score, we continued playing in accordance with our game plan. The main thing is that we controlled the puck. Before we scored our first goal in the second stanza, we had lacked patience when in front of the net.

- Did you change your approach after losing to Admiral Vladivostok in your preceding match?

- We had spoken within our group about the reasons which resulted in that particular result. Today, we were happy that the guys played our style of ice hockey for the entire 60 minutes while remaining a united team at the same time. Did SKA surprise us? No, we know how SKA play and we had analysed them beforehand. All of the information is there for everyone.

- In the third period, Spartak appeared to sit back in defence. Was this your game plan for the concluding frame?

- Not at all, we had actually told the players to not sit in defence. However, when you are leading, your psychology changes and you subconsciously start to play in a more defensive manner. Given that SKA are a very strong team, we expected them to throw everything at us in the third period. We were ready for their onslaught, but our psychology let us down a little bit.

- Patrik Rybar was superb for you in your net.

- He was excellent, but all of the skaters in front of him tried their best to help him. Our defensive play was pleasing today, we managed to turn our game plan into a reality.

- Former SKA player Morozov looked really fired up today. How has he improved after spending a year playing in North America?

- It’s obvious that the ice hockey there is a bit different. We’re constantly speaking and working with Ivan, and he is now returning to his level. Was he especially pumped up to play SKA? I think that everyone always wants to beat SKA, there are some top clubs in this league which we all want to beat home and away. You’re always full of motivation to beat them.

- At one point, the shot count was 29-9 in Spartak’s favour. Did this surprise you?

- No, it didn’t, but I was disappointed that we weren’t scoring goals. We had enough opportunities to score more than two goals, we were controlling the puck well and created chances to unleash shots on the SKA net. We would like to score more goals.

- There are rumours that Ilya Kovalchuk is in great shape. Is there a possibility that we will see him playing for Spartak?

- Before coming to this press-conference, we had just spoken. When we return from this road trip, we’ll have a conversation together. We’re prepared to consider his candidacy, why not?

- Spartak missed the playoffs last season. In comparison to the previous campaign, what’s changed?

- We had a different team last season. We strengthened the team this summer, with 10 new players joining us. But, just like I have previously said, the process of building a new team takes a long time. Some of the young guys who won the VHL with Khimik Voskresensk are also here with us. Our task is now to create a strong team not just for one season, but for many years.

HC SKA forward Marat Khairullin:

- Thank you to the fans for coming to the arena and supporting us. Unfortunately, we let them down today with our performance. I hope that it doesn’t repeat itself again. Did Spartak surprise us? They played well today, competing in a fast, aggressive manner. Spartak have a new coach, but they didn’t surprise us. We didn’t play our ice hockey. In the third period, we started playing our game and chances immediately began to appear. We must play like this from the first minute in our upcoming games. My role as a captain? Nothing much has changed, the only difference is that I speak to the coaches and the players more often.

HC SKA forward Vasily Glotov:

- Just like Marat said, the fans provided us with superb support! We will draw the required conclusions and move forward. In my opinion, we need to think outside the box and act differently. We don’t have wins and losses, we only have wins and lessons. It was a lesson for us today. No one likes to lose, but it’s better to receive a lesson like this today rather than in the spring during the playoffs. The shot count was 9-29 in Spartak’s favour after 40 minutes? We failed to effectively move out from our own zone. As a consequence, we couldn’t enter their zone and stay there for a long time. It felt as though we needed to work harder and make two more steps in order to open up in space. In the third frame, we finally started doing this, and we began to create opportunities to score. The problem was with our approach. What kind of captain is Khairullin? He’s a great captain, he leads by example. The team wins and loses together. We fully trust Marat, there isn’t any pressure on him.