“We’re getting too close, but we get hit on the nose.” How Torpedo fights in the series with SKA

Nizhny Novgorod needs a new hockey palace

I came to Nizhny Novgorod for the playoffs and let me share my impressions of the third game of the Torpedo – SKA series.

About the palace itself. Torpedo plays in the Nagorny club, built in 1965. It is clear that all tickets for such a match have been sold – 5,500 spectators gathered. As Torpedo defender Bogdan Konyushkov said, “before such matches you immediately have many friends and friends of friends asking for an extra ticket.”

But the palace itself is morally outdated, it is inconvenient to work there, the clutter is terrible. Therefore, I am waiting for 2025, when they promise to complete the construction of a new arena for Torpedo on Strelka. There will be 12,000 places for spectators, a training rink for 200 spectators, the total cost of the installation is 15 billion rubles. That should be cool. At least I liked the football stadium in Nizhny Novgorod, where I saw the Argentina-Croatia match in 2018. Hockey is still an ancient horror, but we will tolerate it.

The game itself – by the way, SKA was left without Dmitry Yashkin, who did not enter the third period of the second game of the series with Torpedo. It’s like Edmonton would have been left without Connor McDavid. In case you’ve forgotten, Yashkin is the KHL’s top scorer and marksman in the regular season.

But what did SKA do? Mixing the links, reassembled the defense, goalkeeper Dmitry Nikolaev played an absolutely brilliant game, making a cracker. And please, Peter already leads the series 3-0. With such a score in the history of the KHL, only one series was saved, when SKA in 2015 lost to CSKA in the Western Finals, but won four times in a row.

Separate chic – SKA scored two goals in the minority. It will be very interesting for me to watch the Western series, if it develops like this, when SKA plays against CSKA. Someone says he’s had enough of the army derby. But I’m waiting for that clash of the titans.

Kruchinin: “Once Jagr said a wise phrase”

We discuss the third match of the Torpedo – SKA series (0:4) with the leader of Nizhny Novgorod Alexei Kruchinin, who this season not only set a personal goalscoring record (15 + 37 = 52), but also managed to working on the Torpedo Coach Shop – this is how head coach Igor Larionov lets his hockey players watch the game from the outside. And soon Kruchinin will be 32 years old – who knows, maybe after such an experience, having felt a taste for business, he himself will want to take the path of coaching?

– What is the reason why you started the third game of the series unsuccessfully, losing the first period with a score of 0:2?

“I don’t even know what happened to us. It seems that we are performing at home, our stands. But on the road, we played in a completely different way. And now they looked shy, unfortunately. Received immediately minus two. In the second and third periods, they tried to fix something, created chances, but found themselves on the counter-attacks. As a result – 0:4 on the scoreboard.

– What is the reason for such stupor?

I think it’s psychology. There are different times – the throw does not work or something else. But you have seen it yourself, some episodes defy explanation. In the second half, for example, Kirill Voronin misses an empty goal. But he is a good sniper. Did he suddenly forget how to hit the target? I do not think so.

Once I read Jagr’s wise phrase, it’s like the game “Torpedo”: “For so many years of my career, I was convinced that if the puck does not enter the goal, then it does not enter the goal.” Now, alas, she hasn’t made it through SKA’s doors, no matter what we do.

– But St. Petersburg goalkeeper Dmitry Nikolaev also showed great – 38 saves, cracker.

– Of course, he took the game: he made some good saves, kept his courage. But I think it’s more about us than the goalkeeper and his team. Not creating a single goal on so many occasions is hard to explain.

– In the fourth game, there is nowhere to fall back, the series score is 0-3. Can it relax Torpedo, relieve psychological stress?

We play the best we can. We create enough chances to play with SKA on an equal footing. And in St. Petersburg, these matches showed that we could also participate in this shootout. We can score a lot of goals. But now 0-3. Although you know, in the playoffs, the main thing is to win the last game. And if you go to every game like the last, then you can achieve your goal step by step.

“We are already very close, but we are clicked on the nose”

– It seemed to me, or was the Torpedo already hooked by this moment? Season too long, exhausting playoffs.

I don’t think it has anything to do with fitness. It’s very difficult when you’re close to a goal from time to time, but you don’t score. And in response, you miss the puck on offense.

Imagine when you are walking towards something. We were already quite close, then – a click on the nose. So we get goals in return. It hits hard on psychology and mood.

No, we have everything in order with physics. As the game shows, we go on the attack until the last minute, we press. It is clear that the forces are not infinite. But our defeat is not linked to that.

– Alexander Nikishin’s goal in the minority finally killed Torpedo’s hopes. I am right? At that time, everything turned out to be exemplary for SKA.

– There is a saying: “Luck for those who are lucky.” Apparently we are not doing enough. But inside the team, we believe we can take the lead, keep this game, win. That we can be stronger. In general, such defeats are very difficult to explain.

Why didn’t you get the majority? Looks like you weren’t using all the variants.

– On the contrary, what we did in the season, what we played – we tried everything. And through passes, and through throws, and through throws, and substitutions. And there were times. But do you think Serezha Goncharuk will now be unleashed in front of goal, and not fall into an empty frame? Yes, he will put ten out of ten! And then it hits the bar. Well, in such episodes the puck just has to be in the net. But she can’t find it. That’s our problem, and we have to do something if we’re going to stick with the show.

— SKA players made 19 blocks. So they know where your shots will come from? Or are you slow?

– There is a different system of playing in the minority. They act compactly, give the area from the outside, but at the same time they stand on the throwing line, trying to block them. So we have to be smarter. Somewhere, maybe, show a throw, but give a pass. More play from the edges, throw in touch. It’s just that SKA closes this “box”, and the passes do not pass through it. Probably, we have to rebuild, be more aggressive and aim for the shot and the substitution, cover the goalkeeper, go there and finish.

– How do you spend Tuesday to win Wednesday?

– There have been times in hockey history when the streak was pulled 0-3. I don’t think you have to look that far. We have to focus on the next game, on the very first shift. And with each successive shift, you have to hang on, win, transfer the game to the next match.

We have to stick together and believe in ourselves until the end. From the beginning, we tried to position ourselves as a team that never gives up, never gives up and will delight its fans until the end. We tried to take the third game. It didn’t work, but we’ll try to do everything to win the fourth game.

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The fourth game of the ½ final of the Western Conference Final “Torpedo” – SKA will be held on March 22. Watch the live broadcast of the match on the federal channel, as well as on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru sites.