Offensive “Amur” Nikita Grebenkin told Metaratings.ru how he rates victory over “Avant-garde” (3:2) in the Fonbet Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) regular season game, and also noted that the team can perform better.
– What is special about the second match the next day? How is it perceived physically and emotionally?
– For me there was nothing special, I have strength, my head is cool, I have a lot of emotions. Maybe it’s a bit more difficult for older guys, I don’t know. Anyway, when you hit the ice, you think only of victory, and you empty your head of all the difficulties.
– What was the difference between the match against Avangard – this one and that one – apart from the score? What was the key to these victories? In the last, you scored on the field, plus a shootout.
– In this match, there was a bad second period on our part, we lost it, conceding two goals. We had to come back from 0:2, and we knew we had the strength to overcome it, solve it and win. If you remember, in the last match, my partner Sergey Dubakin took me 1 against 0 with the goalkeeper, but in this match it didn’t work. Not to say that the games are very different. Well, important two wins. Thank you very much to the fans who keep us going and who believe in the team.
– Summarize the home series. How successful was everything in terms of playing in front of their stands? We scored 7 points out of a possible 8 against Novosibirsk and Omsk.
“Honestly, we can do better. We need to please the fans more. We are working on it. But the home series definitely turned out to be very positive.
– How do you explain such a successful match of “Amur” in the last 17 matches? Only five losses.
– We had and still have a good team, we work to the end, we bite any opponent. And why five defeats is successful? We have to play better. The most important thing at the moment is that we have a good chance of qualifying for the playoffs. Coming back to your question, I would say that five defeats is not that successful, given the ambitions of our team.
– Are you following the board? To what can we attribute such fierce competition in the East for a place in the playoffs? All the teams in the race.
– Behind the table (laughs)? This is the main leisure now, awake, the first thing you look at the table. I can’t explain the competition, it’s a new league for me, I can’t compare this season with previous KHL seasons. It’s great for the fans, first of all. After all, we play for them, a lot of people start following new teams for themselves and hockey in the first place.
— What can you promise the fans? Will Amur make the playoffs?
– I never guess: we will, we will not. I can definitely say that in the remaining games the team will give 101% to get into the top eight.
“Do you follow your native metallurgist?” What are your impressions of their game? Why haven’t they lately?
– “Steelworker”? Well, we have different time zones, I don’t watch the games. I only know where they are in the array. And why do you think it doesn’t work for them, maybe they cheat everyone in a controlled way (smile)? Metallurg is a top club, I’m sure they have a plan and they will achieve their goals to the fullest. I just wish them good luck.
In the next match, Amur will travel to Yaroslavl Lokomotiv on February 7.
Watch live broadcasts of KHL matches on the federal channel , thematic channels of the holding, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Metaratings.ru
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.
