Karri Kivi: Vlad Fokin was really good tonight

Karri Kivi, Traktor head coach:
We needed one goal to remove the psychological weight, but when we did score, it was too late. Now, concerning the interactions between members of the coaching staff… I can’t say we don’t understand each other at all, no. Of course not all the players understand English, but Vitaly Yachmenev does and interprets what I say to the team.

Before the match we spoke a lot about how our PP and shorthanded combinations should be on par with those of Dynamo’s. Unfortunately, that was not the case tonight. There is no strategy in leaving only one D-man on the blue line during power play, that just happened tonight, and those D-men made mistakes. Nonetheless, this is not our biggest problem when it comes to the power play. There are changes in team management that I cannot comment on. I just focus on what is going on on the ice.

I am not thinking about terminating contract with one of the foreign players and signing a foreign goalie instead of Garnett. I think Fokin was really good tonight.

Harijs Vitolins, Dynamo head coach:
Two periods were far away from the ideal performance that I would like to see from my team. The third one was a different matter though.Yeryomenko was great tonight – he saved us in several difficult situations. I actually planned on putting Lazushin in the first two home games and Yeryomenko in the third one. It’s upsetting that he allowed that goal 15 seconds before the horn. I will have to make a decision as to who is going to appear in the nets in the next game.

Dynamo has always prided itself on being a flexible team as any line can decide any game, and we still stick to that principle.