SKA - Torpedo. Press-conference

HC Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod head coach Peteris Skudra:

- It was a good, physical game. We showed modern and interesting hockey for the fans, and I am thankful to the guys for reacting to the criticism after the defeat to Jokerit. We had concentration, and fufilled the game plan - that was the only way to defeat such a powerful SKA team. This is a very important win at the start of the season. It's always tough to play in Saint Petersburg - fans here are excellent, and they have a powerful team. This makes this win two times as important. Thanks to all of our guys for this match.

- Only one of the Kostitsyn brothers was included in the squad. Was this because of the new limit on foreigners?

- Yes, we can only have five non Russian players in the team. Everyone needs to work within the law.

- Have SKA changed a lot since last season's playoffs?

- We analysed SKA's game before today, and I like their team - they have a lot of power. Have they changed? Two key players have left, it's impossible for no effect to have taken place. Nevertheless, they have a great team.

- You have a great fourth line - Andrey Kostitsyn and Alexander Frolov. Is this your own plan?

- They all have the same ice time and roles in the team. To be successful, all four lines should be equally as good.

HC SKA head coach Andrei Nazarov:

- I congratulate my colleague with their win. Our lack of goalscoring has cost us again, and we will try to fix this problem. This is the third match in which we cannot score. We are trying, crashing the net, but we can't score. We hope that we can find the key to success for the next game.

- Is the goalscoring problem down to Ilya Kovalchuk's injury? And how is he feeling?

- We don't know about Ilya yet, the match has only just finished. In hockey sometimes the puck doesn't go in - we will speak with the guys and hopefully in the next match we will score. The players are trying. Against us everyone tries their best. and when I came here with other teams it was the same. Maybe this is a key factor right now. Now we have five away games coming up, and maybe we will find it easier. The main problem is that we can't score.

- How is Evgeny Ketov's and Vadim Shipachyov's chemistry together working?

- Very poorly.

- What would you say about the fourth and youngest line?

- They are doing exactly what we want them to, they even earned a powerplay. Their role is not to score goals, but to hold the play and draw penalties from the other team if they get lucky. There are veterans in other lines who should score. One or two goals for players of such a high level is not good enough.