Pavel Francouz: it’s great to go to national team with a shutout

- We had a good start and a lot of scoring opportunities, but failed to score early. Luckily, Jiri Novotny opened the score, and it helped us a great deal. Both teams were focused on the defense, that is why not too many goals were scored.

You faced just a handful of shots in the first period, but as early as the second one, there were nearly three times more shots.
It’s always hard for me when there are not too many shots. I felt a lot better when Severstal started firing more shots.

Was tonight’s game easier emotionally compared to the CSKA game?
This is always dangerous when you win a big game against a team like CSKA, and then you come out against Severstal and think that they are going to hand you a win on a silver platter. We tried not to think like this, and I’m happy we got three points tonight.

Tonight, two Czech goalies who will represent the national team at the Oddset Hockey Games were in the net. How do you feel about the upcoming tournament?
It’s great to get a shutout win before going to the national team. However, Oddset Hockey Games are a very different thing, so I need to forget about KHL for a while.