SKA - CSKA. Press-conference of game one

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- It was a good game, I would like to thank our fans for their support. We made one more mistake than the opponents. We will analyse what happened and prepare for the next match, which is the most important one for us.

- CSKA are always stronger in the third periods of matches. How will you cope with this challenge?

- Our task is to improve with every passing period and shift. The guys showed desire today, they blocked lots of shots. Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi has perhaps received a serious injury, we will discuss that issue with the doctors. I don't have any problems with the commitment. At times, we needed to take more unexpected decisions and block the goalkeeper's view. It's pleasing that we are creating lots of scoring opportunities. We need more surprising plays, shots and ruthlessness in front of goal.

- You are trusting your young players. How difficult are they finding it, especially when it comes to faceoffs?

- This is an important aspect of the game. Without a doubt, we need to improve our faceoffs. When you lose a faceoff draw, you automatically make life difficult for yourself.

Nevertheless, if we look at today's match, then the thing which let us down was the fact that we wasted goalscoring chances. We need to score more goals, especially when playing at home in front of our supporters. We will do everything in order to make our fans happy on Monday!

- Will you focus on your attacking play in the upcoming games?

- It all depends on how the match is going, we can use different tactical schemes. We want to score a lot of goals, but five skaters play in the attacking zone and five in the defensive zone. Today's game proved that we can create a lot of opportunities against such a strong CSKA defence.

- Did you expect CSKA's third line to perform so well?

- All of CSKA's lines are strong, they have experienced players. For example, Alexander Popov has scored a lot of goals throughout his career. We are expecting danger from every CSKA line, but the same can be said about all of our four lines too. Our players always try to play in accordance with our system. We're in the semi-finals, no one can underestimate their opponents. We have to now analyse all of the details and prepare for the next game.

- After conceding in the second minute of play, did you feel the pressure?

- You saw that we subsequently managed to equalise. We always try to get back on level terms after conceding, but we want to take the lead in matches. Both of these teams understand each other well, we have interesting, level games ahead of us.

- Why are SKA not using their scoring chances? This was an issue against Spartak Moscow too.

- The goalkeepers are playing well for the opponents. In order to score, we need more shots and to block the goaltenders' view. Our amount of opportunities tell us that we're on the right track, it would be worrying if we weren't creating them. This is the playoffs, we're only just getting started.

- What happened for the second conceded goal? Was Mat Robinson to blame?

- Ice hockey is a game of mistakes, we will analyse what happened and move forward. We're not going to blame anyone, we win and lose as a team.

- Why did SKA stop playing with so much aggression in the third period?

- Our goal was to improve. Maybe Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi's injury had an effect, I can't say that the importance of the game made us feel the pressure. We have young players in our team, but they're prepared to play with responsibility. We will draw the correct conclusions from this game and get ready for the next match.

- You traded Vladislav Kamenev to CSKA earlier in this season. What did you make of his performance?

- The KHL has a wage cap, we had to let some players go when forming our team throughout the season. We have a lot of our own strong players, we're helping them develop.

- CSKA often wanted fights with your players.

- We want to play ice hockey, not to fight. Our task is to score a lot of goals instead of taking the bait from the opponents. We'll make the required conclusions and move on.

HC CSKA Moscow head coach Sergei Fyodorov:

- There was a fantastic atmosphere inside this stadium, it's great to play here. There was a lot of emotions, and not everything went as we had wanted it to. We held on during the second period, we didn't play well with the puck. We will be better on Monday.

- Your team seemed to struggle in terms of movement.

- We hadn't played for a long time. The best possible training session is a competitive match. The SKA fans supported their team loudly, but we tried to follow our game plan. From our side, there were a few nerves before the match started. But, we progressed during the game and managed to win. In the third period, we had told our players to play in a simple manner.

- Sergei Andronov spent 10 minutes on the ice in his first game in a long while.

- Sergei is ready, but he had missed over a month. He recovered and is fully ready physically. Sergei is an experienced fighter, we're counting on him.

- This game proved that the third and fourth lines often win playoff matches.

- Well, our first two lines should also help us emerge victorious in games. Our leaders can feel the responsibility on their shoulders.

- Despite being 41 years of age, your forward Alexander Popov is still your fastest player.

- He is a leading player for us in these playoffs. During the Olympic break, I can say that he was our strongest player at training. Alexander is in good shape and he's continuing to please the supporters.

- Leo Komarov seemed annoyed with Popov during the entire game.

- That's a question for Leo, I think. Despite that issue, the players competed as a united group and played in a confident fashion in the third period. Yes, not everything went to plan today, but we were calm as a consequence of having thoroughly analysed the opponents.

- CSKA were aggressive in the third frame. Did you give your players the task of landing big hits against SKA?

- No. However, we were lacking physically in the second stanza, so our experienced players understood that they needed to improve that particular component.

- You have now won nine out of nine playoff games so far.

- As a coach, it's nice to hear that statistic, but we aren't focusing on the numbers. This is only the first victory in a new series. Tomorrow, we will analyse this game at our training session and make improvements to our approach.

- Darren Dietz had a poor plus/minus rating with Barys Nur-Sultan, but that isn't the case with CSKA.

- He had a free role when playing for Barys, and he's continuing to adapt to our defensive strategies. We have always known that Darren is an excellent defenseman for the KHL. I'm pleased with his progress, and we want more from him in the attacking zone.

- CSKA seemed to play on the back foot in the opening frame.

- Both teams hadn't played for a while before this match. The third period was a bit better than the second, but it's tough to play in an attacking manner when you are losing out in terms of pace and are playing without the puck.