German Tochilkin: «We need to play our game»
24.03.2026
Neftekhimik forward German Tochilkin speaks with the media after a following 2–4 loss against Avangard.
– German, this is your first playoff game. Could you share your emotions?– I have the most positive emotions. It's a shame we didn't manage to win... But the debut itself, against such a strong team, is great. We really want to get through this series, so we'll try to keep going, and only for the win!
– In general, how different are playoff games from the regular season?
– Here, the game goes until the first mistake; there's more physical hockey, more hits, more emotion. No one wants to make a mistake, which makes the game easier, but also more interesting.
– In the second period, we had a total advantage over our opponents. What advantages did we use to achieve that?
– We started attacking more, maybe they weren't expecting it, and we dominated more, circling them in the zone. We should have scored more, I think the score would have been different.
– Do you agree that we did not put pressure on the opposing team enough, even though the game was in our hands?
– We were missing one crucial goal somewhere, and somewhere else, we needed to score.
– Where was the key moment of the game, when the game could have turned in our favor?
– We shouldn't have concede the third goal; I think we would have win this game for 100 percent.
– It's clear that a 0–1 series is not that terrible. How can we turn this series around?
– We need to play our game, and everything will be fine.
