“We have lost in the little things. But these are not trifles ”- what the participants of the CSKA – Lokomotiv match said

The first match of the second round of the playoff series between CSKA and Yaroslavl Lokomotiv ended in a 2-0 victory for the army team. After the match, the team coaches summed up the initial confrontation.

LITTLE DECIDES

Lokomotiv head coach Igor Nikitin spoke about the reasons for the defeat of the railway workers:

“We have lost, one might say, in little things, but these are not little things. We relaxed for literally five seconds, and that was enough for CSKA to seize the opportunity. The series has just begun and is still ongoing. I think the guys understand what needs to be done. We are preparing further.

They threw the opponent three times, but is it all about psychology? When they score, they say it’s skill. When not hammered that psychology. Today was psychology.

Couldn’t play under pressure for the full 60 minutes? We didn’t have a plan to play under pressure for the full 60 minutes. Against CSKA this is unrealistic. It depends on a situation. CSKA have a great team and they took the initiative. I won’t say we failed the third period, but these nuances gave the opponent the energy he wanted to draw throughout the game. So this needs to be corrected.

Did you score anything in the first match against Vityaz? No, well, it was a very bad match against Vityaz. We played better today, but we played against a different opponent and that wasn’t enough.

We have little improvisation and is our style always the same? We are who we are and we are not ashamed of it. Did you fly away from CSKA quickly last year? We want to win this series, that’s all.”

DRY BUBBLE

CSKA mentor Sergey Fedorov congratulated his team on the victory and noted the opponent’s work: “Our guys and fans with the victory. Great atmosphere. Part of the game was for Lokomotiv, they had good pressure and puck movement. Guys – well done, suffered, endured, played in their place. There were a couple of moments not in our favor, however, we used our moments when they should have been used. They played each other. We got the puck on time and it turned out to be better than we expected.

Zero shots on target in 15 minutes? Great job Locomotive. I didn’t know it during the period, but I understood that there was a certain advantage on the opposing side. However, as I said, concentration, attention and starting the game – that’s what we talked about – we improved a bit. Therefore, the first match and those moments that the opponent gave us, we managed to react correctly. We stuck to our game plan, and the boys were full of energy and understood how much pressure such a mobile opponent could exert.

Because of what managed to play “to zero”? There isn’t much to add to the above. The guys understood the previous experience of the series and in defense again threw several things during the training process, although it was very short. However, it was a comfort zone for them. And also playing with the opponent’s initiative as we played in the first period and a little in the second period – in our place, on the puck, on the throwing line – I think this is the result that was formed at the end of the game .

Did Reideborn play as Tretiak? We already had confidence because, as you said, he played like Tretiak. What will happen next is hard to predict. We have helped Adam in some situations to feel good and close a certain angle of launch from our opponent. This instilled confidence not only in our actions. We always knew Adam could do it. As I said, the goalkeeper is a key figure, the last one on the red line, but there are five players ahead of him, and we worked on this throughout the season and set up the lads. Today we played a little better. The opponent pressed, he had the initiative, but we understood how to act without the puck. And here we are talking about defense.