Viktor Tikhonov: "Goals arrive when you crash the net"

- The opponents gave a good fight.

- Yes, they played well and gave us a real fight. As you saw, the first two periods were really difficult. When we crashed the net harder, the goals came.

- Did you feel that you were playing against a VHL club?

- Why the VHL?

- That's what Andrei Nazarov said before this match.

- No. It felt as though we were playing against one of the league's strongest clubs. They moved very well. It's difficult to play against such a team.

- Were you disappointed when they took your hat trick away?

- It wasn't my goal, Sergei Kalinin deservedly scored. As I have already said, the puck goes in when you crash the net. We need to do that more often.

- You scored your two goals in quick succession.

- It's my fastest pair of goals in my career. The thanks go to my teammates. Two of them went into the empty net, and I almost scored a third. It goes down to how hard the line works. Everyone did a good job.

- Can Jokerit beat SKA's record of 20 consecutive victories?

- We will play them soon, so it will be an interesting game.

- How important is this upcoming break for SKA?

- To be honest, we can see that our pace has dropped a bit. It will be great for us to have a rest and refresh away from ice hockey for a day. After that, we will go back into the fight.

- Harijs Vitolins admitted that SKA need more matches like the game against Ak Bars.

- Yes, it's true, because those games shape a team's character. Without those matches, it will be difficult to achieve something. Today, we did it.