MOSCOW, January 9, Andrey Senchenko. Head coach of Nizhny Novgorod » Torpedo Igor Larionov admitted that during the second break in the regular season match of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) against Moscow CSKA he asked his players to avoid shame and win at least the third period.
The meeting, which took place in Moscow on Tuesday, ended in a major defeat for Torpedo with a score of 2:7. After the first two periods, the Nizhny Novgorod team was tired with a score of 0:6, but were able to win the third 20 minutes (2:1).
«»I congratulate the opponent on a good, confident game and a well-deserved victory. During the second break there was talk about avoiding shame and winning the third period. This gives a little confidence. I thanked the guys for this. But overall, they did not show the best show for the fans «, this is complete irresponsibility. In such games you find things that you have not seen before. They need to be corrected so that they do not become a tradition, when the team is not mentally ready to play against an opponent who has gained momentum,» Larionov told reporters.
Continental Hockey League (KHL)09 January 2024 • start at 19:30Finished
CSKARussia7 : 2
Torpedo NNRussia
05:31 • Andrey Svetlakov (Maxim Mamin, Vladislav Kamenev)
09:11 • Konstantin Okulov (Mikhail Grigorenko)
10:21 • Kirill Dolzhenkov (Maxim Mamin, Pavel Karnaukhov)
19:07 • Sergey Plotnikov (Anton Slepyshev, Andrey Svetlakov)
26:10 • Sergey Plotnikov (Anton Slepyshev) , Andrey Svetlakov)
35:11 • Sergey Plotnikov (Andrey Svetlakov, Anton Slepyshev)
54:43 • Vitaly Abramov (Nikita Nesterov, Maxim Mamin)
51:16 • Vladislav Firstov (Igor Larionov, Madison Bowie)
59:59 • Vladislav Firstov (Maxim Letunov, Kirill Kirsanov)
See all goals
«»There are emotions, but they are the enemy of the coach. I will turn to my experience as a player who lost matches with a similar score, and here it is important to keep a cool head. After the first period, we told the players in a rather strict manner that this will not work. But it is too important «Don't put too much pressure on the team and don't go too far. We need to unite as a team, look in the mirror. We need to understand why we concede a lot of goals, let the opponent dominate our zone, leave the goalie free and don't catch pucks on ourselves. But we won't point at each other friend's finger. We are all a team. The team wins, the team loses,» he added.
Torpedo forward Nikolai Kovalenko, who is recovering from an injury, should return to the lineup for the match on January 16, when the Nizhny Novgorod team will host Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The forward missed the last five KHL matches.
«»Kovalenko started skating. He has good dynamics. Most likely, he will return to the game when our home series begins. When you lose key players, the teamwork of the lines is lost. I had a dream to start the new year with a full squad, but we also lost Vasily Atanasov. Such factors influence the situation, but I don’t want to look for excuses. We want us to have new leaders and heroes who could lead the team,» Larionov said.