"I'd like to see Livo break Mozyakin's record."

The hockey players of Salavat Yulaev Ufa have had a successful regular season for the third consecutive season, they are among the leaders of the Eastern Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). But in the past two draws this did not save them from a playoff elimination in the first round. This coming spring, the club will try to move on. With 11 games left in the regular season, it is in third place in the East, seven points behind the leading Chelyabinsk "Traktor" and with two fewer games played.

However, this week Viktor Kozlov's charges missed an opportunity to get close to the Ural club, losing away to Lada from Togliatti (0:3) and Vityaz from Balashikha (1-3). In an interview with Izvestia, one of Salavat Yulaev's leaders, forward Sasha Chmelevski, explained the reasons for the team's recent failures, how important it is for the team to lead in the regular season, and how Ufa's forward Joshua Livo is affected by the race to catch Sergei Mozyakin's record for goals in a single regular season. The Canadian has 41 scored pucks, while his best result is 48.

- What are the recent failures of "Salavat" connected with?

- We just didn't play well enough on offense. Basically, we didn't have enough chances at the opponents' goal.

- In recent weeks, you and a number of other teams in the East have been periodically closing in on conference leader Traktor, but you've lost some games and missed the chance to catch up with the Chelyabinskers. Why is this happening?

- I don't know. I think it just happens. In principle, everyone is fighting for a win in every game now: someone is fighting to make the playoffs, someone is fighting for leadership in the conference. So everyone can beat everyone. That's why everyone has slumps sometimes.

- Is the goal to make the playoffs from the first place in the East, or does it make no difference who we play against in the first round?

- We don't care. I've been playing for two years, we're in the top-3, and you know the result (in the past two seasons Salavat finished in second and third place in the East, but fell out of the playoffs in the first round. - "Izvestia"). So it makes no difference to us at all. The main thing is to play the right hockey and have the right attitude.

- What should be done to avoid a repeat of the first-round exit?

- I think that just everyone has to find their game. And not wait for one of the leaders to do some of their work. Everyone has to do it, everyone has to carry their own weight. And then we'll win. Everybody has to do their job. If we rely on a couple of individual players, we won't win anything.

- Is everyone in Salavat this season doing what you're talking about?

- The season is long. There were moments where players played well. And there were moments where they could have played better. But you can't speak for the whole season, because it's long and very hard. We fly more than the other teams, except for Admiral and Amur - it's not easy for us either. And it has a big impact on us.

- Is it more difficult even than last season, when the calendar was tighter than now?

- It was much easier last season, because we realized that the schedule was not so difficult. This year we play twice against Kazan and Nizhnekamsk, and then we fly to Omsk, which is very hard. We change the time zone by three hours in a very short time. We need to recover afterwards, and there is very little time.

- Is it easier in North America in this respect?

- It happens there too, but two or three times a season, when you have to fly somewhere far away to New York, Los Angeles or Detroit. But in Russia, such time zone changes of three hours are much more frequent. Not to mention trips like to the Far East, where we still have to fly in March.

- Will you be able to recover in time for the playoffs?

- We have no choice. This year everything is set up to get through the first round. We're going to try and fight for that and to go even further.

- Joshua Leivo is seven pucks away from Sergei Mozyakin's record for goals in a single regular season. Is he and the team as a whole affected by the excitement of this?

- I'd like to see him break that record. He deserves it. Of course, there's still a lot of work left to do to make it happen. But I think everybody wants the record to happen. He's constantly being questioned about it and pressured, and he's doing a great job, not listening to anybody and just playing.

- Does the fact that they've been playing particularly hard against him lately affect Joshua?

- I don't think so. He realizes what work he has done this season and why they play so hard against him. So he just needs to play the same way he's been playing all season. And be ready to be tough on his opponents. Livo knows that himself, because he's been playing hockey for a long time.

- What else does Salavat need to improve on in the remaining month before the playoffs?

- We should basically just catch a good game at the end of the season and be ready for any opponent. Now we have 11 games left, and this is the moment when we can somehow improve in everything. We're about to fly to the Far East and we just have to concentrate and play the way we're going to play in the playoffs. Because in the playoffs everything will be different, we have to play a lot of defense and a lot of power plays. We already have to prepare for those games. And I think we'll train differently and put all our willpower into this first round.