Mikhail Kravets: “Against Minsk, Avangard played with the whole team, against each other”

On Monday, November 6, Avangard defeated Sochi in the KHL in shootouts. The team’s head coach Mikhail Kravets assessed the results of the meeting at a press conference after the match.

The mentor also answered a question about overtime, when he again took off the goalkeeper for the sake of playing “4 on 3”.

– A difficult game for us, the score changed in different directions. I am grateful to the players, they worked 200%. In difficult episodes they showed character, skill, and courage.

The whole team played against each other. I am glad that we returned a kind of favor to this opponent.

There was a lot of positivity overall. Now we need to rest a little and prepare for the game against CSKA.

– In Omsk and Minsk, Dynamo lost during the match, but equalized the score. Although in the end I gave in today. What do you think is the reason? How did he do it? Are there any similarities between these two games?

– The two games were different from each other. In Omsk, we had an unsuccessful majority. In Minsk, on the contrary, we played well in the majority. At the same time, in the second period, it seems to me that the opponent outplayed us at 5 on 5. This was the problem – in the 5 on 5 game we needed to improve. That’s what we did in the third period.

But Dynamo is playing well and it was not easy to contain them.

– This season you have Belarusian forward Igor Martynov playing for you. How satisfied are you with his performance? Or can he play better?

– Igor, it seems to me (and the entire staff thinks so), plays consistently, evenly, and helps us very well in the minority. Speedy, strong, team player. He is a good help to our team.

– The decision to remove the goalkeeper in overtime and replace him with a fourth player – weren’t you afraid that the team wouldn’t score and the goalkeeper would eventually “cool down” before the shootout?

– Well, I always believe in the guys, I want them to play hockey, try to win, not be afraid, and not just throw it away and play for a draw. And Mishurov – he traditionally showed himself well in shootouts, which he also did today. So, overall, he played well today.

Previously we wrote how Kravets appreciated victory over Sochi on November 4.