Press Conference «Neftekhimik– Avtomobilsit» 10/4/2025

– We had a very good first period: we moved well, and everything else was going well overall. In the second period, our opponent picked up the pace, and for some reason we started making the same mistakes we had made in the previous game. There is a saying: A smart man learns from his own mistakes, a wise man learns from mistakes of others. But we are not wise yet; we do not learn from others' mistakes. Although we need to learn from our own mistakes first of all. Today, there were moments for which our opponent punished us. The guest team caught fire and played well at times. Of course, they took advantage of our mistakes. That is unacceptable. We will talk about that tomorrow. We can play well, but something's holding us back. We are losing games to ourselves right now.

– Is it more a question of psychology than physical one?
– We moved and skated well enough. So there should not be any questions about our players' physical shape. It is unclear yet whether it is overconfidence or something else that's holding us back. We cannot afford to make mistakes like that. I would d like to point out that we had some good chances, too, but we did not take advantage of it. We had both 3–on–1 and 1–on–0 breakaways.

– In the second period, Reshetnikov replaced Yakupov, and in the third, you returned to your usual lineup. What was the reason for that?
– Actually, we tried to speed up the game. At first, we tried playing with three lines, but we conceded a goal right at the start, then another. We realized we needed to return to our usual plan. As for Yakupov and Reshetnikov... Raul played one shift too long, and we decided that he needed a rest. We need to give playing time to the guys coming from Reaktor and Izhstal.



Avtomobilist Head Coach Nikolai Zavarukhin:

– We had a rather timid start, but our opponents had the upper hand. I immediately thought of the previous game in Nizhnekamsk. Fortunately, we found right words during the break, and the guys were able to turn the game around. We made some minor line changes, and I think that helped. We played well in the second and third periods. The guys did well; they scored goals and withstood the opponent's pressure. A huge thank you to our fans who were chered for us here. You could hear them.

– Did today's victory stem from a large number of mistakes on our opponent's part?
– We put pressure well. That is probably why our opponents made mistakes. Although Nizhnekamsk dominated the first period, we could not get much going.