Mikhail Kravets: “After five minutes of the first period, something went wrong at Avangard”

Avangard September 14 at home beat in overtime 4:3 “Admiral”, losing in the third period 2:3. The match was assessed by the head coach of the Hawks, Mikhail Kravets.

According to the coach, such strong-willed victories are very useful, including for the character of the team.

– Of course, we are glad that we won. It’s the most important. All errors and shortcomings can be analyzed and the game itself forgotten.

On the other hand, the first five minutes of the meeting as a whole are excellent. Then something happened, things went wrong. And it’s unclear why. It feels like you won the last game 8:0. Although this is not true, we conceded there.

So I had to talk to the players after the first period, I’m glad they heard me. And in the second period the game, of course, changed. We scored very good goals, I’m glad that Mikhail Belyaev showed himself. Well, again, the last 4 minutes of the period need to be played correctly. Don’t make mistakes. After goals are scored, you cannot create dangerous moments near your goal. The third period was a good start again; we could have scored three goals in one shift. Instead, a 2v2 counterattack, a throw – a goal.

As I told the guys in the locker room, both last season and this season, we create the most difficult conditions for ourselves, from which we ourselves found a way out. It is most important.

I will note again that it is necessary to add in the majority. This is not working, we are working, trying, I think everything will be fine with this.

– In the second period, your team scored the third goal, but it was not counted, the score never became 3:1. And then, just a minute before the end of the period, the opponent scored himself and the score was level. In this regard, the question arises: the disallowed goal greatly upset the team, influenced it so much that they missed it, among other things? Or was there no psychology there, only purely game circumstances?

– Of course, what we missed, and it became 2:2, seemed to have an effect on psychology. But at the start of the third period the shift was crazy, we could have scored more than once. Such a misfortune happened here. It seemed like the opponent didn’t have a special chance, but nevertheless he took the lead in the score – the hockey player threw well from under his feet and the puck flew into the top nine.

But in general, I think that in the third period we played more in the opponent’s zone and created many chances. We dealt with the nerves.

– Mikhail Belyaev was in the lineup today and scored a double. This is your coaching instinct, perhaps you expected this from him?

– You know, I want to thank Vladimir Filatov here, we used to work a lot together in St. Petersburg. And now he works in the VHL, we communicate with him. I myself saw that Misha scored two goals, and when we took him from Lokomotiv, I knew how he plays.

And Filatov also recommended him, saying, “He played so well,” that’s why I decided so today, too. It was a collaboration that ended up working out like this.

I’m glad it worked out – both as a coach’s instinct and as a plus for Misha.

– The fact that the team shows will, wins where it loses during the meeting – do you see this as a plus, including the fact that the team unites even more and develops character?

– Of course, because no one here has shifted the burden onto someone else’s shoulders. Everyone made a mistake – we all correct it together. Everyone brought victory, I think this only adds to our confidence for the future.

Previously, we published a commentary about the match from the author of the decisive goal, forward Reed Boucher.