Comments of the head coaches of the teams after the KHL regular championship match of the 2021/22 season CSKA - Jokerit.
Sergey Fedorov, head coach of CSKA:
- First, I congratulate everyone on the upcoming New Year. As for the game, I can say that we had good moments and not very good ones. But we will continue to work on implementation and correct play without the puck. At some points, we did not quite direct the puck correctly. And, of course, the opponent's goalkeeper played the sixth field when we were throwing the puck into the opponent's zone. It knocked out of the rhythm. An opponent with a victory. A very strong team, we knew that Jokerit was recovering gradually. The players return to the squad. Therefore, we were seriously preparing for the match. As always, there is food for thought and a lot of room to work with.
- How can you assess the play of the newcomer Vitaly Abramov?
- I think that he did a good job in the link in which he performed with Svetlakov and Guskov. Especially in the second and a couple of shifts in the third period, the guys could score and bring the attacks to their logical conclusion. He played well enough for the first match.
- Do you have an understanding when to expect Grudinin? Will you immediately take him to the first team or send him to the youth team?
- There is no information yet, everything happened in the last few hours, we will wait for his arrival.
- How can you explain the removal of Okulov?
- I think this is a reaction for the moment. He tried to get the puck out through the top of the glass. This is an accident. None of the players want to make the team get punished for it.
- Why did you release the fourth link to the majority?
- Not exactly the fourth link. Andrei Svetlakov showed great passion and desire in training when playing in front of the goal, which is why he played in the majority.
- What is your position on the cancellation of the World Youth Championship?
- Probably difficult to comment on. Purely logically, I understand its cancellation. In Canada, the situation is tense in terms of covid. But the IIHF could not move the tournament to another country. I am worried about the guys who wanted to play against their best peers, prepared, but, unfortunately, it did not work out.
- It seemed that November was a breakthrough for the team, and December was not successful. Can't you see that there is no game development since the beginning of this month?
- Our team in December before the First Channel Cup showed a good level of play in every component. But in my opinion, having six people playing for the national team four games in five days, it leaves a certain imprint in terms of physical fitness. I disagree that we had a lost game. There were good stretches. If I finish fully answering your question, then I think we are boldly introducing newcomers who only joined us a few days ago. They are on the move, ready, want to play, we will go through the adaptation period with them. This is another feature of our December tour.
Lauri Maryamaki, head coach of Jokerit:
- We prepared well for the match today. We had a good start period. In the second game segment we started well, the score was 2: 1, the majority played. But the opponent scored. And at the end of the second period, we didn’t do much. During the break in the second period, Jensen was injured. But today our team showed character in the third twenty minutes - they scored a goal. Overall, it was a very good match.
- You said that you did not like the team's actions in the games against CSKA this season. What did you change in this match to win?
- I said this after the second match in Helsinki. Then we played badly in defense. And today we managed to play stronger in defense than we did at home.
- When can O'Neill play?
- I don't know, I think next week, if everything goes well.
