Vasily Podkolzin: "We were solid in defence and used our opportunities"

HC SKA forward Vasily Podkolzin:

- It was a tough match, and it is a difficult, tense series. Two even, high-quality teams are competing against each other, it's a battle of character. The ice hockey itself is completely different in comparison to the regular season. It's good that we won today, we took advantage of our opportunities to score. Yes, we did concede in the closing stages, but never mind. Magnus Hellberg was excellent in our net, and we were solid in defence.

- Did you feel that Dynamo Moscow had a lot of motivation today?

- This is the playoffs, they compete in this physical manner in every game. Dynamo were more aggressive than usual today, but we coped with the challenge.

- How did the fight between Artyom Shvets-Rogovoi and Daniil Tarasov affect your mindset?

- Artyom did a great job, he helped us with his fight. I think that it was one of the key moments for us today.

- The fourth line is scoring a lot of goals for SKA in this series.

- The guys are following the coach's plan, they're competing hard across all zones of the ice. When you play in the correct way, you are rewarded. I'm really happy that Vladislav Kamenev is coming into his own, he is one of our leading players now.

- What did you change after the first match of the series?

- It's hard to say. Everyone plays in order to win games in the playoffs, you simply need to do your job on the ice instead of talking. We have been solid in defence in the last couple of matches, we've restricted the amount of scoring opportunities for Dynamo.

- SKA are one victory away from the next phase of the competition. Will you focus on defence in game five on Friday?

- We need to win in order to qualify for the next round! It will be a big test for us. I can say that we all support each other, and our fans have been supporting us really well both in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. We are one team, we're fighting for the same goal. We will have a serious mentality for the next match.