SMITH: I AM HAPPY TO WORK WITH YASHIN

SKA head coach Barry Smith comments on the first match of his team after KHL break.

SKA outplayed Vityaz Chekhov 4:1 and the head coach of the St. Petersburg club expressed his point of view on the game.

"I liked both quality of hockey and character of my players", said Barry Smith at post-match press conference. "I was afraid that team would lose our peak form during nine days of break, but I was mistaken. We played wonderfully in the first period".

"Our opponents improved in the second period. Unfortunately our victory was darkened by injuries of two players. I hope that these injuries are not serious".

"One of our leaders Konstantin Gorovikov had flu and there was no sense in letting him play for the national team at Euro Hockey Tour in Helsinki. His teammate Zubov missed this competition because of injury and was not ready to play a week ago. I can only thank him that he recovered so quickly and played on high level against Vityaz".

"Alexey Yashin was not included to list of candidates to the national team, but he is not the person who will complain on it. He is professional player and he is always fighting as hard as he can. If coaches don’t want to see him in their team, it’s their right, but I have a different point of view on it. I am happy to work with this great player".