03 September 2021

KHL. Barys - Salavat Yulaev. Press conference

A press conference with participation of head coaches was held after the match Barys - Salavat Yulaev (1:5).

Tomi Lämsä, Head coach of Salavat Yulaev

- We work very hard for eight weeks before the season, always looking forward to the start of the season. Therefore, the first match is not so easy. I think this is the reason why there were so many emotions and desires among ice hockey players. I think we deserved to win today. Among key moments of our success, I would like to mention Juha Metsola, who showed just an excellent game. I also want to note that we played well and aggressively in power play. This was one of the components of our success. Plus, our rookies played great today. Nikolay Kulemin scored a hat-trick at today's match. I think all four of our lines performed well, that is why we deserved the victory.

Yuri Mikhailis, Head coach of Barys

- For two periods we did not lose to the opponent in terms of speed and made a lot of scoring chances as well. But we failed in implementation of these chances today. The end of the second period, two goals in the last minutes of the first half were most likely the turning point. We entered the third period and were ready to change the score. Then we scored an important goal. But the penalties made it harder for us to win. Somewhere, probably, we played poorly in defense. There are also positive aspects in the attack. We created a lot of scoring chances as well. I think if we work harder on implementation, we will score a lot.

- There were a lot of penalties in the game. Is the team getting ready for the season or are the new rules affecting the team?

- We are just getting things ready, and there are new rules as well. But, most likely, we lost the game rhythm somewhere. We should draw conclusions.

- How could you explain that Boyarkin played today instead of Ortio?

- Today there was hope for Nikita. I wanted to test him immediately with a strong opponent. He played well at the World Cup and was quite confident. Today he came out and helped out the team, but our defense did not assist him at all.