Ilya Davydov: tonight’s hockey celebration was great

- We were pumped for this one, seeing as how this is the starting game and all. Francouz was great tonight. We gave it our best to get the win in regulation, but once again it all came down to the shootouts. Good thing we broke the unpleasant tendency and got the victory.

Traktor lost to Avtomobilist three times during the preseason. Was it weighing heavy on the minds of the players?
No. It was actually a stimulus to get the victory. We really wanted to beat Avtomobilist tonight.

What do you think was the reason why there were so few goals in this game?
Both teams pay plenty of attention to their defensive efforts, that’s all. The game might not have been too exciting for the fans because of that. Then again, both we and our opponents had many scoring chances.

The crowd was great tonight?
Of course, as hot a crowd as on any given night. Tonight was a big celebration of hockey, and I think it was a huge success.