"It feels like a certain load has been lifted from the Locomotive"

Dynamo Moscow's hockey players have had an unsuccessful start to the current KHL season. They lost four of the first five matches of the regular season and were outside the playoff zone. But since mid-September, the blue and white have been winning regularly. In the next 11 matches, Alexey Kudashov's team won eight times. They are in seventh place in the Western Conference, only three points behind the second line and seven points behind the leading Yaroslavl Lokomotiv.

Dynamo played their last match against the Railwaymen. They almost brought the home meeting with the current Gagarin Cup winner to overtime, conceding the decisive goal only two and a half minutes before the end of regular time (2:3). In an interview with Izvestia, Dynamo defender Artyom Sergeev assessed the results of his club, told how Lokomotiv had changed after the summer change of head coach Igor Nikitin to Bob Hartley, and also explained how the team was affected by the absence of the main goalkeeper Vladislav Podyapolsky due to injury.

— What happened to Dynamo at the end of the match with Lokomotiv?

— Nothing has happened globally. We conceded an unnecessary goal. At such a time before the end of the meeting, of course, it is fraught with missing. Especially from an opponent like Lokomotiv. That's why it ended with our defeat.

— From the outside, what do the changes in the style of play of the current Gagarin Cup winner look like after the summer change of coaching staff?

— I think they started playing light. It feels like a certain weight has been lifted from them. And there is a lightness in terms of their actions on the ice with the puck.

— So it's not even related to the change of coaching staff?

— Yes, it's not about the coaching staff. They just won the long-awaited trophy. And they gained confidence and ease in the game.

— Did your team relax against the background of a large number of victories in October, when it rose to the playoff zone and moved closer to the leaders of the West after an unsuccessful start in September?

— Compared to the unsuccessful start in September, of course, we feel more confident. But it still feels like we haven't had such a direct game yet. We're still going hard.

— But you probably don't plan to delay the acceleration until the playoffs?

— Of course, no one is going to wait until the playoffs. We need to accelerate soon. In order to strengthen your position as quickly as possible in the regular season, be as high in the table as possible closer to the playoffs and not waste your energy on solving minimal tasks. To do this, we need to win most of the meetings more confidently, and draw out the ones that don't work for us. We still need to achieve a more complete game.

— Did you manage to say goodbye to Devin Brosseau, who recently joined Salavat Yulaev?

— Yes, we thanked him for his time at Dynamo and wished him good luck in Ufa. He wasn't on our team for long, but he made a significant contribution to the results. I performed well during the Far Eastern series in September, when, with victories over Admiral (4:3B) and Amur (3:1), we, in fact, began to rise from the bottom of the table. Brosso scored four goals for us, but they were all decisive in very difficult matches.

— What was the reason for Dynamo's problems in September?

— It wasn't easy. Everything was somehow out of place, not in the right timing. It's better now, but it's still far from perfect.

— Is there a big difference playing without Vladislav Podyapolsky in goal and with him?

"I wouldn't say that. Personally, I try never to think about who is playing in our goal. At a certain point in a certain match, someone is playing better, someone is playing worse. It's the same among goalkeepers. In some cases, the floor drags more, in some cases it drags the Engine (Maxim Motorygin, Dynamo's second goalkeeper. — Izvestia). To be honest, we don't rely on the goalkeeper. They do their job, we do ours. And we try to help each other. Yes, when the goalkeeper gives some kind of performance, catches the opponent's key shots and saves the team, it gives the team momentum. But the name of the one who plays in goal doesn't matter.