SKA - Vityaz. Press-conference

HC SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg:

"I want to point out the wonderful atmosphere at the SKA Arena today! When I was younger, I could only dream of such a fantastic atmosphere in Russia. The atmosphere is better here than in the NHL! Thank you to everyone in attendance. Nevertheless, I'm sure that the atmosphere will be even better in our next match!

"Given that Vityaz had lost their three preceding games, we knew that they would be determined today. There were a lot of duels across the ice. Our players didn't compete in accordance with the game plan during the opening stages, but they subsequently improved and played our brand of ice hockey. As a consequence of the tough game against CSKA Moscow on Friday, we initially struggled in terms of our emotions. Overall, though, we are moving in the right direction. We will now prepare for our next match.

"We must give credit to Vityaz, they have a strong side with excellent foreign players such as Jeremy Roy and Frederik Gauthier. Even though Vityaz lead nearly all of their games, they find currently themselves outside of the playoff slots. We made individual mistakes at the start of the opening stanza, but we recovered well and won the duels across the ice. We regained the initiative.

"We're beginning to concede less goals? Our forwards are helping out in defence. In ice hockey, just like in football for example, it's vital that everyone helps the goalkeeper as much as they possibly can. Our goal is to not concede at all.

"Matvei Korotky picked up his maiden KHL point? He's a really hard-working player. When he won the Kharlamov Cup with our youth team last season, he blocked pucks with his face! Pavel Moisevich and Ivan Demidov also hoisted the Kharlamov Cup aloft with Matvei. 

"Pavel Akolzin's productive start to life as a SKA player? I had long wanted Pavel to play for SKA! He's a fantastic player on the crease, where he wins the battles, scores vital goals and prevents the goalkeeper from seeing shots."

HC SKA defenseman Ilya Karpukhin:

"We conceded two cheap goals at the start of the match. However, instead of focusing on that, I would like to put the emphasis on how we improved after conceding those markers. We didn't allow Vityaz to create any chances at all, whereas we spent a large amount of time inside their zone.

"The adaptation period after transferring from Chelyabinsk? I've been involved with the national team on a regular basis, so I already understood the demands here and knew the vast majority of SKA's players. It's been nice that the group has accepted me so warmly. I know what's expected of me."

HC SKA forward Pavel Akolzin:

"We started poorly, but I think that Zakhar Bardakov's fight provided us with a much-needed boost of energy and positive emotions. The rest of the match was solid from our point of view, we competed at a high level throughout. We scored good goals, capitalised on our powerplay and kept the opponents at bay with organised defensive play.

"How have I adapted to playing from SKA after representing Magnitogorsk? Metallurg use a different system, they like to focus on positional attacking plays with lots of passes. SKA, however, prefer to shoot more with the defensemen sending the puck towards the slot. My job is to make life difficult for the opponents with my play on the crease. I've started well, so hopefully I will continue in the same vein."

HC Vityaz Moscow Region head coach Pavel Desyatkov:

"I think that we played well against a strong opponent, but our penalties ruined the game. We should have been more patient. Instead of bowing down to SKA's provocation, we needed to play calmly and for the benefit of the team. Such penalties were taken by Roy and Derek Barach.

"Was I surprised to go 2:0 up? No, we've held leads at the start of nearly all our games recently. Unfortunately, as matches progress, we appear to be scared of the fact that we're winning! It's a psychological issue. We battled the same problem today. 

"We had enough opportunities to equalise when down 2:4 and even 2:5, there were plenty of odd-man rushes and 1-on-1 chances. When you're presented with such openings, you have to capitalise on them. Players of elite level capitalise on any chance, whereas others need 10 or 12 opportunities before they score.

"Dmitry Buchelnikov? He's been progressing ever since he played for Admiral Vladivostok, where he gained vital experience of playing at KHL level. Dmitry has improved in terms of his defensive play, movement and maturity."