Mikhail Kravets: “Avant-garde players gave 200%”

On Friday, March 17, Omsk hockey players in the Gagarin Cup at home won the first match series with Metallurg 2:1. The decisive goal was scored by Arseniy Gritsyuk. The meeting after its completion was appreciated by the head coach of our team Mikhail Kravets.

The mentor confirmed that in this round and with such an opponent there will be a difficult fight.

– A tough game against a good team. At first, everything worked out for us. There were good speeds, a lot of dangerous moments. But alas, not all of them were implemented.

Then there was a series of removals, this usually leads to the fact that the pace is lost. It was now. Some players get tired playing in the minority, others freeze on the bench. And from our side, unfortunately, the removals were not justified. Although, in general, all the guys fought today, gave all the best for 200%.

Thank you for the support of the fans, the goalkeeper for an excellent game. Well, the whole team for their courage and skill.

But this is only the first game, we will prepare for the next one.

– In the second and third periods, there was a feeling that Avangard had little strength or they had run out. But where did the strength come from in overtime?

– As I said, in the second period we spoiled the game of removal. We were in a bit of a hurry again. And before the overtime, I asked the guys not to throw themselves off the puck, plus that the defenders calmly start the attack, and the attackers come back and support them, if anything. Keep the puck in someone else’s zone. Throw more. Basically, this is what we did. Maybe the rest after the third period also affected.

– The fact that today it was possible to solve everything only in overtime, in general, already promises that the whole series will be “on thin”?

– We did not think at once that it would be very easy. So, in general, they expected it to be a tough fight. This is Metallurg, this is the second round, there are no weak teams in the KHL at all, but even more so in the second round.

So everyone was ready for such a fight.

– How do you evaluate the reasons for the deletions in the second and third periods?

– It depends on the player. He must understand that the clubs must be at the bottom. Play carefully. Moreover, a couple of removals were generally in the attack zone. And you can’t go there at all.

But it happens differently. For example, the removal has passed, and before that – not at the time of the foul, but earlier, the player has already done something wrong. Let’s say it changed at the wrong time. This is exactly what happened in the situation with Tkachev – the players should have changed much earlier, but instead there was some kind of fuss.

Earlier we also gave an assessment of the matchwhich was given by forward Arseniy Gritsyuk, the author of the decisive goal.

Before “MK in Omsk” wrotewhat expectations from the series were voiced by striker Korban Knight.