Michal Birner: we showed great team work

- I feel great – we had a good start and got the win. Most importantly, we showed great team work.

It seemed as though Traktor was scared of SKA’s star power.
Yes, absolutely. Look at the SKA’s top line! Any team would be nervous when they have to face Datsyuk and Kovalchuk. Nonetheless, it all changed when we opened the score. It was a great back-and-forth game, with scoring opportunities on both sides of the ice. I think our defense gave us a chance to win.

Did you manage to find chemistry with Repik and Penkovsky?
We had a couple of training sessions together. Michal Repik and I have played together for some time, so we have some sort of chemistry. I think three of us had a fine game tonight. It would have been cool to score, but that’s okay. We managed to stay out of our own zone for a lot of time, and that is good. Chemistry will follow, I believe.