Igor Grishin: «It will be an interesting and at the same time challenging trip»
14.02.2026
Neftekhimik Head Coach Igor Grishin speaks with the media before the road trip.
– It will be an interesting and at the same time challenging trip. Firstly, it's interesting because both Severstal and Lokomotiv are competitive teams. Secondly, I think the hockey will be interesting. The opponents are very serious, strong, and are leaders in their conference. So, it won't be easy for us, of course.– Speaking about the last two games, we struggled with scoring goals. Is there a way to improve that?
– Today at practice, we focused a lot on scoring. For some reason, we always have these streaks of games where we score one or two, then there are streaks of games where we score more than three goals. I can't explain it; I can't understand it. Overall, it's a trend that's been apparent. I'd like to be more consistent and score more.
– What roster changes have you made? Poyarkov was called up from Izhevsk. Is the goal to give him a chance to prove himself?
– Vladislav Barulin is injured and can't help us right now, and we need depth on the trip. We'll see how he performs in practice. If we like him, we'll probably use him. Besides Vladislav Barulin, Dinar Khafizullin, who was injured in the game against SKA, won't be traveling with us either. Everyone else is healthy.
