04 September 2023

KHL. Barys - Siberia. Coaches' comments (video)

After the Barys vs. Sibir match (4:5 OT), a press conference with the teams' head coaches took place.

David Nemirovsky, head coach of Sibir

- We started the game well, and scored a goal, but there was a "zone". Then the penalties started. We had the same problem during the last game. Five on five - we play well, then we get penalties. I hope it was a good lesson for the guys. New rules, they judge strictly from the beginning. I think it's right, our guys should get used to it. They got used to it in the second and third periods. Despite the score of 0:3, the guys had faith. You can see that in a five-on-five game, even after penalties, you can get back into the game. We played well, scored in overtime. It's very important that 30 seconds before the end our goalie Krasotkin saved us. We are going home.

- Today it seemed that the team played second number. Did they deliberately give up the initiative and catch on the counterattack?

- I think that we played "five on five" first. It was obvious. The key factor is that had we not played "five on five", we would not have come back into the game at the score of 0:3 with penalties. But we knew that if we played with equal numbers, the initiative would be ours.

- You had a lot of penalties, was it because the opponent put pressure on you?

- All of our penalties were in the offensive zone. It's a good lesson for the guys. The rules are the same for everyone. It's time to get used to it.

Andrei Skabelka, head coach of Barys

- It's a shame to lose such games. It was a good game for both teams. Today we broke the hockey laws. A team has no right to concede goals in the first and last minutes. There must be full concentration. We conceded three of five: one twelve seconds before the end of the period, and two in the first minute. That's probably part of the reason for the outcome. We see good potential in the team's offense. We have to improve our defensive play when we're leading in the score, we need to win games like this. All in all, it's pretty fast and interesting hockey. We have three more games with Sibir this month. We are preparing for Sibir again.

- Have you already decided which goalie will play in the next match?

- We will think about it. I can't give you an answer right now. Today it can be said that we scored such goals for ourselves. We'll see, analyze and decide.