Head Coach”Motorist” Nikolai Zavarukhin after the defeat in the Fonbet KHL championship match of Avangard Omsk, he spoke of his desire to interrupt the unsuccessful streak of the Yekaterinburg club.
The meeting took place on Sunday in Omsk and ended with the score 2:1 (0:0, 2:1, 0:0) in favor of the hosts. For the residents of Yekaterinburg, this defeat was the ninth in a row.
– Congratulations to Avangard for the victory. We were a little chained in the first period. No one is indifferent in the locker room, we all want to end this unfortunate streak. The opponent punished us for our two mistakes in the second half. In the third period, they tried to score, but they lacked such a goal project.
– There is a lot of talk about the fact that one of the reasons for Avtomobilist’s losing streak is the workload that was given to the team during the break. Can you confirm it? And if so, is it possible to say that the team is already doing well, because today they looked good in terms of movement?
– Of the eight games we have lost, we have lost four in extra time – in extra time and on penalties. But no one writes about it. They only write that the team is losing. When the team went 15 games unbeaten, no one wrote about that either. As for your question about the charges, I will not comment on that, it will remain within the team. I apologize, but it will remain within our team. And I hope that our leaders will come back in the near future – both Anatoly Golyshev and Stefan Da Costa – and help the team out of this situation.
— If you compare this game with recent games against Avangard, are you more satisfied with the way the team moved today, created chances? Is there a way out of this situation?
– We had a good game in Chelyabinsk, and the game we lost here 0:5 – there was also good movement, there were a lot of chances, there were no conversions. Something is wrong, yes. Like clockwork, a mechanism broke down in the team. But we are looking. There are no indifferent people. Everyone wants to win. These emotions are superfluous – today we have 14 minutes of cancellations – for a whole period we practically played in the minority. But the guys went to bed, catching pucks on themselves. I have nothing against them. But this series will also go through the work. Everything depends on us.
– Is it important for you to stay in first place in the conference?
– It is important to win a victory, and everything will go further. We have to restore the confidence of the guys. There is no panic on the part of the technical staff. We see that there is a match, but, once again, we need a victory.
– It seems that now the team lacks a leader?
– I already talked about it. We are waiting for the return of the leaders – Anatoly Golyshev, Stefan Da Costa, on whom the team was built. We have Sergey Shirokov. Looking forward to more guys. Attackers first. Before the game, a meeting took place – we expect a more aggressive game in attack and, of course, scored goals, – the club’s official website quotes Zavarukhin.
Avtomobilist continues to lead the Eastern Conference standings with 63 points. In the next game, on January 10, the club will host CSKA Moscow on its ice.
Official website of HC “Avtomobilist”
Source : MatchTV
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
