Mikhail Kravets: “Avangard” needed to crawl out of a small hole after two away defeats.”

“Avangard” on Saturday, February 17, played a KHL championship match at home with “Metallurg” and won 3:0. The meeting was appreciated by the team’s head coach Mikhail Kravets.

It’s interesting that as a coach this game was Kravets’s anniversary in the KHL – the 300th. It’s all the more pleasant that it beat a strong opponent.

“I’m very happy with this victory after two tough games away from home. It was necessary to crawl out of this small hole. We did this today, despite the fact that several of our guys were sick – but those who came out to play did everything and even more to win. We played quite confidently. Metallurg is a serious opponent. There were mistakes, but we acted correctly. Our goalkeeper kept the score and helped the team a lot. I was also pleased that Avangard set a record for goals scored in a season in the regular season – more than 200. This is a hello to those skeptics who say that our hockey players score poorly,” – this is how he assessed the meeting as a whole.

The coach’s answers to two of the many media questions were as follows:

– Soon after the start, the impression appeared that Damir Zhafyarov in particular was trying very hard today and was clearly determined to distinguish himself. And in the end, indeed, he had a pass and a goal. Can you evaluate his performance separately?

– I am very glad that I had enough patience for all this. Because I said before – I really liked the way Damir played in Torpedo, where he was the leader, who created a lot of problems for his opponents. And today everything worked out great for him in this link. He doesn’t have to be afraid to hold the puck and make decisions, he’s not a play-by-play forward, he’s the one who plays the game. And he needs to return to this role. Which he succeeded in today.

– Can we say that the second goal inspired the team, when there was real confidence in success?

– It seems to me that this is quite natural. At 1:0, any situation can turn out to be 1:1. And essentially all over again. Although for us, again, if you remember, the score 2:0 is not always very good (smiles).

We previously wrote how the Hawks’ forward assessed the meeting Ivan Nikolishin.