Damir Zhafyarov: «We are in a great mood»
16.03.2026
Neftekhimik forward Damir Zhafyarov speaks with the media after a following 6–3 win over Torpedo.
– We are in a great mood. The regular season is coming to an end, preparations are underway for the playoffs, and every good game gives the team new momentum for the big games. So, winning is always nice. It's good that we won; it was a good game, with goals scored. Unfortunately, we haven't been scoring much lately, but today we did well. For me personally, it's always a pleasure to come to Nizhny Novgorod; playing here is a city I'm very familiar with. So, it's a pleasure to be here every time I come. I'm probably glad I got to experience another game at this arena. We hope that the next games will be held at the new arena.– What are your goals for the rest of the regular season?
– To work on all aspects of the game, to try to make everything work better. I think the guys who played in the playoffs understand that it's a different brand of hockey, so we need to work on all the nuances a little now.
– Plenty of goals were scored in this game. Do you agree that this happened because there was no pression on the outcome of this game?
– Anything can happen. When we did not score a lot of goals, it was certainly a bit stressful, and you always want to score more. We seemed to be creating a lot of chances, and then, maybe, everything just came together. Obviously, we won't be scoring six or five goals every game, but it's always nice to have a high number of goals.
– There was a moment when the team was leading 4–2, and the opponent narrowed the gap to a minimum. Do you agree that onlt after that you took control of the game?
– Well, that's probably what's so interesting about hockey, when teams alternately seize the initiative: two goals here, one back there, and right after one team scores, the other one. I guess that's what's so interesting about sports. Of course, every game is different, but for me, these swings are more interesting than 1-0, 2-1 games—the kind where the game is monotonous and there aren't many exciting moments. Here, there were attacks from both sides, and our team tried to play hard with a seemingly strict stance, but at the same time… there were plenty of goals from the very beginning, and everyone wanted to score more.
