Russian hockey coach Vyacheslav Uvaev said that in the Gagarin Cup series against Yekaterinburg Avtomobilist, St. Petersburg SKA was ruined by its defensive play.
Avtomobilist won the series 4-1.
— I think the key moment of the fifth game was when SKA took a two-goal lead and conceded almost immediately in the first minute of the period. Of course, this is unacceptable when you want to close the gap in the series. SKA was ruined by its defensive play. There were positional and individual errors. A top team should not allow this to happen. Moreover, probably, the first matches that took place in St. Petersburg have already predetermined the very course of the series. Two defeats at home, after which it is very difficult to get by. Even the injuries, the loss of the main defenders, it is clear that this played into the hands of the Avtomobilist.
Yekaterinburg, of course, played very well defensively. In principle, they acted the same way in the championship. Great goaltending play, a ton of blocked shots and they turned almost every moment into a counterattack.
I can’t say that, for example, Serebryakov played badly, but these positional and tactical errors of St. Petersburg… Again, a team of this level should not make them. It’s strange that the majority didn’t work – only two goals in the series. If I’m not mistaken, last season in the playoffs they also had a very low extra shooting percentage. I don’t know how to explain this, even though it’s pretty much the same artists who polished the majority over the course of the season. It’s clear that the opponent is trying to figure it out, but we have to come up with new moves, these players are simply forced to do so.
“Avtomobilist” looks great, for the third season they have practically the same cast. For the first time in history, two rounds have passed – that’s already a pretty good success. Ideal for the city, for the team. Hopefully their new arena will be put into service as soon as possible to delight the fans. And I think that, first of all, it is bearing fruit, it is the work of the technical staff. Stable composition, connections are already established, the guys have gotten used to each other. And I especially want to highlight, in addition to the leaders and the goalkeeper, the players of the third and fourth lines, who are doing an excellent job,” Metaratings.ru quotes Uvaev.
The Yekaterinburg team became the second semi-finalist of the Gagarin Cup after Chelyabinsk Traktor. Avangard and Lokomotiv, as well as Metallurg and Spartak, continue to fight for the two remaining places in the semi-finals.
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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.