Press Conference «Neftekhimik – Avangard» 10/8/2026
08.10.2026
Neftekhimik Head Coach Igor Grishin speaks with the media after a following 0–1 loss against Avangard.
– We will not focus on the low scoring. It was an interesting game with plenty of chances and shots. A sort of rivalry is developing between us and Avangard – the games are always great, and today’s was no exception. Unfortunately, we could not beat their defense and goaltender; Serebryakov played an excellent game. Our guys played really well, too.Avangard’s passive play in the third period? That came as no surprise; the whole league knows they start aggressively and then switch to a more conservative mode.
The challenge after the goal? We sent the request upstairs; our video coach is an expert in these matters, and he gave us a clear signal to challenge the play. The decision was made, and that is that – nothing we can do about it. We handled the subsequent penalty kill well.
Avangard Head Coach Guy Boucher :
– We were low on energy in the last game, so we gave the guys a chance to recharge, watched some video, and worked on correcting our mistakes. We played two good periods, though we let up a bit in the third. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am proud of the guys – they really stepped up – and we need to keep building the team step by step. We moved Gulyayev to forward, and as you can see, it was a good decision; we were lacking speed. For me, these challenges are interesting to go through.
