Anvar Gatiyatulin: power play is our Achilles heel

Anvar Gatiyatulin, Traktor head coach:
Power play is still our Achilles heel. The team was rather nervous early but managed to amp up the pressure. Unfortunately, we lacked killer instinct during the counterattacks and lost the postgame shootouts.

Pavel Yezovskikh, Yugra head coach:
Games against Traktor are always tough because we know each other very well. We had to regroup after the early ejection and had to play with five Ds for the entirety of this game. Sharychenkov was exceptional tonight, and Varfolomeyev got us a win.

Question to Yezovskikh: A couple of words about the home series, please.
Yezovskikh: We got a little bit more than 50 percent of points, and it’s actually not enough, because to get into the playoffs, a team has to get 75 percent of points on home ice and from 40 to 50 percent of points on the road. We lacked confidence against Salavat, but earned two very hard-fought victories over Magnitka and Traktor. Points and all, I am satisfied with how this home series went down.