Five-time Russian champion Alexei Tereshchenko told that unreliable defensive play is unlikely to allow Nizhny Novgorod “Torpedo” achieve great success in the Gagarin Cup.
The first match of the series between Torpedo and Moscow “Dynamo” will take place on Thursday 2 March in Moscow. Each series of the Gagarin Cup qualifiers goes up to four wins.
“Dynamo has a better chance of winning,” Tereshchenko told . – Look how Torpedo played at the finish line – they didn’t concede less than four. I think Dynamo will win this series. I won’t say it’s easy, but definitely. With all due respect to Larionov, his team is very young, there are big defensive problems. If Torpedo played tougher on defense, that would be a big plus for him. Maybe they’re in the playoffs, sure, and rebuilding. Yet Larionov is the master of our hockey, the greatest player.
– But coach Larionov has no experience in the fight for the Cup. Not to mention its young players.
– Igor Nikolayevich has huge playoff experience. Don’t leave a coach, but a player, whatever. He feels the game and knows what to do with the team. In this regard, there should be no problem.
– Dynamo players look more hardened and physically more powerful – will that help the White-Blues?
– No, everything is in order with physics and Torpedo. The point is not in the weight of the players, but in the fact that Nizhny Novgorod plays unreliably in defense. And in the playoffs, it will be a big problem. At first they seemed to have a good way out of the area with a short pass. But as soon as the rivals began to approach them more densely, immediately “damn it” happens.
Watch live broadcasts of the matches of the Gagarin Cup on the federal channel , thematic channels of the holding, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV
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