Oleg Leontyev: «Plenty of our players played well today»

Neftekhimik–Kunlun RS Press Conference

Neftekhimik Head Coach, Oleg Leontyev:

– When you have a two-goal lead, you need to play to very end. Overall, it was a good game. Unfortunately, some players relaxed at the end of the second period and allowed the opponent to play better in the third period. Moreover, the opposing goaltender played great. He stopped 52 shots and did not let us to score. I hope we still have some energy left for the upcoming cross-town rivalry against Ak Bars.

– In the shootout, coaching staff made a decision to change goaltender. Nikolayev made his debut. How would you rate it?

– It is too early to rate his game, because it was a shootout series. We thought it was right time for Nikolayev to play. Moreover, Fillip played a lot and tired a little bit. There is nothing special about this change. A lot of team do the same thing.

– After a short break, Nail Yakupov played. How would you rate his game?

– He moved well, created scoring chances, and played at his level. We hope the next game he will get more points in order to help the team. Plenty of our players played well today.

Kunlun Red Star Head Coach, Ignatjevs Viktors:

– Before this game, we knew how well Neftekhimik played and that they had a winning streak. It was clear for us that it is not going to be an easy game. They started this winning streak with the victory over our team. We expected that this streak should end with the game against us. Fortunately, that is what happened. During this game, we were catching up again. Many thanks goes to the guys for playing to the very end. In addition, our goaltender did a great job and kept us in the game, especially in shootout series.