Press Conference «CSKA – Neftekhimik» 2/25/2026
25.02.2026
Neftekhimik Head Coach Igor Grishin speaks with the media after a following 0–2 loss against CSKA.
– There were no chances at all on attack. Our opponents showed us how they cover everything on defense, practically preventing us from creating any scoring chances. We found no chances, no options to create any scoring opportunities. The only thing was that the penalty shot came out of nowhere, and we didn't take advantage of it. Overall, we deserved that.– Joseph Duszak started playing forward in the third period ; Nikita Popugaev played only one shift, as did Krivolapov. Coaches, based on experience, usually put defensemen in the center, but you put Duszak on the wing...
– Because we talked to him, and he said he could play both center and wing. He specifically mentioned the right wing and center. But since the center forwards weren't particularly problematic today, we put him on the wing.
Andrei Belozyorov is injured, Vlad Barulin is out, and we know we need to move forward. We're fighting for the playoffs. And we have Krivolapov up front—he's still young, completely inexperienced. Thankfully, Sokolov seems to be showing some signs of improvement. We talked to Duszak and watched his play on the ice—it looks like he can create offensively as well. He said he has that kind of experience. It just so happened today that I decided to give it a try. We haven't had many shifts, so I haven't formed any firm opinion on it yet. We'll see.
– Is there any update on Andrei Belozerov? Will he be going to the Far East trip?
– We'll know tomorrow. There was swelling, and an MRI isn't necessary with swelling. He's going for an MRI tomorrow, and we'll see what the injury is. We know Andrei is a fighter, and he'll be back on the ice at any opportunity. After his examination, we'll see if he'll go on this trip or not.
– Your team has only won two of its last seven games. Is it fair to say that the team is experiencing a certain crisis?
– We're experiencing a crisis on attack; we're scoring not enough goals. Even the games we've won have been with one or two goals scored by our team. That's the biggest crisis. We actually practice a lot in this area and try to work on these issues in practice, but for some reason, we're just not getting it right in games.
– Could it be that the guys have become overconfident?
– Not really. We're going game by game, and we're playing pretty well, with the exception of today's game. I can't say we played in a bad way. Our opponent was actually stronger today, and that's all. We played pretty well in the games we lost in this series, creating a lot of chances, unlike today's game, but we weren't capitalizing on them.
I don't think any coach can answer why the team isn't scoring. Everyone's trying to develop this element; we work on it in training. It's hard to say why it's better in some areas and not in others. We're trying to motivate the guys to play more aggressively, to be more confident, to be more assertive—to take control of the game, to do something out of the ordinary. But so far, we're just not getting it right.
– The team has a tough trip to Khabarovsk ahead. What's the training plan?
– We're returning and flying there in two days. Basically, we'll take one day off, then practice. We have a specific training plan. We're just flying there, and we need to find the strength to play, try to win, and improve our attacking play.
