Former head coach of the Russian national ice hockey team Vladimir Krikunov believes that the defeats of the favorites in the first games of the Fonbet KHL Championship playoffs are due to the fact that the teams at the bottom of the rankings have an overwhelming mood and desire to win.
– Everything is fine, nothing critical has happened. The teams leave the bottom of the classification. They are overwhelmed with emotion and desire. And the teams that were conditional favorites have a normal situation and game. Therefore, I think the atmosphere was not enough.
Of course, this happened due to motivation. Can’t a team play four games every other day to win it all. All will wake up now, it will occur to them that the playoffs are not toys at all. And the atmosphere is different. So they will fix everything in one day,” Krikunov told Metaratings.ru.
The first round of the KHL playoffs began yesterday. Admiral beat Salavat Yulaev (2:1 OT), SKA lost to Dynamo Minsk (4:6), Vityaz beat Lokomotiv (1:0 OT) and Neftekhimik proved stronger than Ak Bars”( 3:2OT).
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.
