SKA - CSKA. Press-conference of game five

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- I would like to thank the fans for their wonderful support. We started brilliantly today, scoring good goals and controlling the game. However, we subsequently committed mistakes which were unacceptable. In terms of statistics it was our best game of the series, but CSKA are really strong opponents who take advantage of any opportunity. We now have to prepare for Wednesday.

- English footballer Gary Lineker once said that everyone plays football, but in the end the Germans always win. Can we say the same about CSKA?

- The Germans also lost sometimes! For example, Argentina won the last World Cup. Everything depends on us. Yes, the opponents are strong and are capable of capitalising on any scoring chance, but there were a lot of positive aspects which we can take from this match. In terms of faceoffs, shots, scoring opportunities and duels, we were better than CSKA. We will come back stronger for game six.

- When you were leading 2:0, why didn’t you start playing in a simple manner?

- We are playing in accordance with our own system. CSKA only had two chances, but they took advantage of both of them. At one point, we were leading 13:1 in terms of shots on target! The opponents are always waiting for our mistakes, but we won’t repeat the ones we committed today again.

- Dmitrij Jaskin missed a 1-on-1 opportunity and is currently 0+0 in this series. Will you make changes for the sixth match?

- We’re a team, we win and lose together. We are not going to single anyone out. Everyone has room for improvement. You can suffer large defeats in the playoffs, but the next game will start with the score 0:0. The situation is in our hands, we will now work on improving the details.

- You are yet to lead this series. Can you turn it around again for the third time and force a game seven?

- Yes, we’re managing to recover after losses! All we are thinking about is game six on Wednesday. We will compete in accordance with our system and fight hard. From our matches in the regular season against CSKA and this series, we can see that these two teams are equally as strong. Nothing terrible has happened, we simply have to prepare for Wednesday.

- What can you say about the mass brawl after the final buzzer?

- The same thing had happened after game two. This is ice hockey, everyone wants to win. In this situation, any method is good. The referees will analyse the incident, they’re the professionals. We will draw our own conclusions and prepare for the next match.

- After making it 3:5, don’t you think that you pulled Vladislav Podyapolsky for the extra skater too early? You immediately conceded an empty-netter.

- We needed to control the puck, win the duels and score. It’s a question of details. Throughout the campaign, we have often replaced the goalkeeper for the extra skater and saved matches as a consequence. Unfortunately, we committed mistakes today which are unacceptable for a game of this magnitude. We’ll remove these errors from our game and everything will be fine.

- There are discussions concerning the possibility of teams from the Western and Eastern conferences meeting in the semi-finals in the future.

- We’re happy to play against CSKA, our games with these opponents are allowing us to reach new heights. Our players are receiving an important experience which will consequently allow them to develop. Today we probably produced our best start to a game of these playoffs, but we must remove the individual mistakes which we are committing.

HC CSKA Moscow head coach Sergei Fyodorov:

- I would like to congratulate our guys with their victory, I’m grateful to them for showing their character and determination to get back in the game after initially conceding two goals. Thankfully, we took advantage of our scoring opportunities and cleared the puck out of our zone at the right times.

- Were you prepared for SKA to start with so much energy?

- In this series, we’re not always managing to start on the front foot. Ahead of the sixth game, we will ask our guys to start in a more pro-active manner. We know how SKA like to start matches, so we need to move the puck quicker and compete with speed. We must be ready for SKA’s fast start.

- When trailing 0:2, your players didn’t look worried at all.

- We successfully caught SKA on the counter-attack. Our two goals in the first period were really important. Was Adam Reideborn’s save on the clean-through Jaskin crucial? There were a lot of decisive moments in this game, and that was one of them. We had cheaply lost possession when Jaskin skated through 1-on-1.

- What is your opinion on the mass brawl at the end of the match?

- All I can say is that these incidents don’t help ice hockey’s image. The game was full of emotion, but we like to use our emotions to play in the required manner and on the elements which are needed in order to defeat such a strong opponent as SKA. The main thing is that no one received an injury.

- Is SKA a different team without Nikita Gusev?

- I know Nikita well and I’m aware of his abilities. However, it wouldn’t be correct of me to comment on decisions made by the SKA coaching staff.

- SKA pulled their goalkeeper with seven minutes to play in the third stanza.

- We’ve often seen this happen. If you manage to score a quick goal like SKA did today, then it gives your team a burst of emotion. There are some examples of when teams saved games by doing this. Our sixth goal helped in taking the wind out of SKA’s sails. When we played against Severstal Cherepovets in the first round, they also played 6-on-4 and 6-on-5 with plenty of minutes remaining in the third period.

- Mikhail Grigorenko is playing brilliantly in these playoffs after a somewhat quiet regular season.

- It’s down to his experience, quality, character and determination. We tried to find the correct line formation which would consequently allow Mikhail to show his goalscoring qualities. Konstantin Okulov always scores against SKA? He possesses enough quality to score in every game.

HC SKA forward Alexander Volkov:

- We played well today, but we also committed awful mistakes. In order for us to win game six, we have to play exactly as we did in the fourth match in Moscow. We must be solid in defence, win the battles on the crease and take advantage of our scoring chances. CSKA have the psychological advantage? No, I wouldn’t say that. The sixth game will contain new emotions, it will be a different day.

HC SKA forward Evgeny Ketov:

- We have to recover in the right away and prepare for game six. CSKA caught us on the counter? We presented them with their opportunities as a consequence of our mistakes. We also have to point out that CSKA improved after their initial poor start. Nothing is lost in the series, we’re only 2-3 down. The situation is in our hands.