Saint Petersburg head coach S.K.A. Romain Rotenberg failed to properly assemble the squad for the opening match of the Gagarin Cup first round against Dynamo Minsk, which was the reason for the loss, said two-time Olympic hockey champion Alexander Kozhevnikov.
SKA lost Wednesday at home to Dynamo 4-6 in the first leg of the Western Conference quarter-finals. For the first time in KHL history, four lower-ranked teams won the opening games of the first-round playoff series.
You did not expect such results?
– It happens, it’s the start of the playoffs. The favorites will come together for the second matches, the matches will be completely different,” Kozhevnikov told .
— SKA missed six goals. Does the team have big problems in defense?
“If they miss that much, then there are problems. A few people were underperforming somewhere, missing moments. Yes, they played badly in defence. They have such failures. It’s understandable: l he team doesn’t have a lot of experience in the playoffs.
– Does the coach’s lack of experience also have an impact?
— Roman Borisovich has worked in the playoffs before. With experience, everything is going well for him. Another thing is the ability to customize the team. This head coach was not enough.
The second match of the SKA-Dynamo series will take place in Saint Petersburg on Friday. Watch the live broadcast of the match starting at 7:15 p.m. Moscow time on the channel, as well as on the matchtv.ru and sportox.ru websites.
Source : MatchTV
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