SKA - CSKA. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

- There was a fantastic atmosphere inside the arena! The fans gave us great energy with their passionate support. We were excellent during the first period, but we have to start taking advantage of our scoring opportunities. One mistake was committed by Arseniy Koromyslov in the second stanza which allowed CSKA to score. We have spoken to Arseniy about that incident, making it clear to him that it’s not acceptable to play like that when the score is 0:0. Risks only need to be taken when we’re losing, not when the score is level. If you still decide to take a risk, then it should end with a goal scored against the opponents. I liked our performance in the third frame, Valentin Zykov – a product of our system – scored an important goal. After that, the match depended on the next mistake. It was tough for our players who returned from the national team, where a completely different system is used. We will now prepare for Saturday before subsequently flying to Moscow next week to gain revenge against CSKA!

- What happened to Vladislav Podyapolsky today?

- He wasn’t to blame for CSKA’s goals. When a goalkeeper makes a mistake, it’s noticeable for everyone. The second goal was conceded as a consequence of errors committed by the guys who returned from the national team, they need time to start playing in accordance with our system again. Instead of blaming the goalkeeper, we have to look at who allowed CSKA to shoot. CSKA didn’t have many shots today, we protected the puck in the attacking zone and constantly applied pressure on the opponents. Yes, Alexander Sharychenkov played well for CSKA, but we kept on shooting into his body instead of being more clinical. We know what we have to do in order to start scoring goals again. I would like to thank our players for showing their character today, I don’t have any issues with their commitment at all.

- SKA produced one of the best performances of the season so far. How disappointing is it to lose in a game like this?

- We spoke about this in the dressing room with the guys. If you don’t score, the opponents will. All matches against CSKA are challenging, but we have to be ruthless in front of goal. When you can’t score with regular shots, you have to try something unusual. This is what Zykov did for our equaliser. In terms of the upcoming playoffs, we can see that we have huge potential. We didn’t lose the duels and blocked CSKA’s shots. At the same time, we are really missing players like Stepan Falkovsky, we’re waiting for all of them to return. We will continue working hard and improving.

- Did you surprise CSKA at all? It was clear just how well SKA had studied their style.

- We’ve played against CSKA plenty of times over the years! I wouldn’t mind playing 10 or 20 matches against them in the regular season instead of six. In games against such a strong opponent, our players can develop and become stronger. However, we now have to stop thinking about CSKA and start focusing on Spartak Moscow instead.

- SKA’s 76^th anniversary will be celebrated tomorrow. Taking this into account, did you consequently have more positive energy inside the dressing room?

- We had a fantastic atmosphere in our dressing room! Ice hockey is a game of mistakes, and we will work on improving the details. It is possible to win every game, but it’s tough when you have a match every two days. We’ve had a flu epidemic within our group too, something which hasn’t made our task any easier. Our character has allowed us to win a lot of close matches. I would like to thank our doctors who are working really hard to ensure that we can play, their efforts are invaluable. We have to use our opportunities to score and take responsibility; at times, we’re making too many passes instead of unleashing shots on goal.

- This season, SKA are competing in a more aggressive manner against CSKA.

- This is down to our training process. We drew certain conclusions after we lost to them in last season’s playoffs. When we were leading the semi-final series against CSKA 3-2, we continued playing in the same manner, but their goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov played excellently. That CSKA team was intelligent, experienced and strong. In matches like this, when we are so dominant on the ice, we must take advantage of our chances and take the next step. We’re happy with our performance level, but we want to win too. We managed to do that against Vityaz in our last game, but we have to remember that CSKA are a team of a higher level. All of our players are playing very well at the moment, they’re giving us difficult decisions to make when it comes to picking our line-up. Healthy competition is a great thing.

- SKA played like the Canadian national team in the first period!

- Thank you for making this comparison. If you’ve seen all of our games this season, then you’ll know that we always play like this. We want to play at such a high tempo throughout entire matches. When you have 10 chances to score in one period of play, then you have to ask what prevented our guys from taking advantage of their opportunities? Sometimes, in the seventh match of a playoff series, you will only have one chance to score. Our goal is to become more clinical. We aren’t saying that we play like Canada, but we have studied all of the different systems which are used around the world. We like to make quick passes, control the puck and create chances. We want to extend our lead at the top of the table and finish in first place.

HC CSKA Moscow head coach Sergei Fyodorov:

- It was a quick, intense game. I don’t know why we were so slow coming out of the blocks, whereas SKA were really aggressive. Nonetheless, we gradually improved as the match progressed and managed to score on the counter-attack. As you saw, we conceded a strange goal in the third period, but the momentum was already with us and we were moving with the puck excellently. We have a lot of games coming up against SKA, so we don’t have long to celebrate this win.

- CSKA only registered two shots on target during the first period. Did you try to change your game plan during the break?

- We simply tried to make alterations to our approach. The problem was that we weren’t competing with enough intensity. In the second stanza, we did manage to improve and settle in the game. The ice is small here, and we normally play against teams which use bigger rinks. We weren’t making decisions quick enough in the first period.

- How important is this win psychologically? It’s your first victory against SKA this season.

- When you play against the leading KHL teams, such wins are really important both psychologically and physically. We lost to SKA in overtime at home when playing 4-on-3, before we then conceded four goals in the first period of the match here last month in Saint Petersburg. This is a hard-fought, team win today, we found a route to SKA’s net in order to score the winner.

- Sharychenkov was superb in your net. Is he your number one goalkeeper?

- It would be better to ask Sergei Naumov that question, he’s our goalkeeping coach. I’m happy for Alexander, he’s showing the level of performance which we want to see.

- Two of the three goals today were scored because of goaltending mistakes. Why couldn’t the teams use more of their chances?

- For the SKA goal, our netminder misjudged the shot which was unleashed from behind the net. Never mind, these things happen in ice hockey. Both teams fought hard on the ice. Before SKA scored their equaliser, we wasted two huge opportunities when playing shorthanded. Had we taken a 2:0 lead, it would have affected SKA’s approach.

HC SKA defenseman Mikhail Pashnin:

- It was a true celebration of ice hockey today. The outcome depended on one mistake in the third period. In the dressing room, we spoke about the importance of taking advantage of our scoring chances. When 12,000 people come to the stadium, you want to play beautiful ice hockey, but we have to shoot more instead of making unnecessary passes.

HC SKA forward Valentin Zykov:

- Both teams had lots of chances to score goals. On another day, there would have been a lot more goals in this game. When we have an opportunity to score, we must take responsibility. Was I trying to pass the puck towards the crease for my goal? No, I was shooting.