"When there's a wall in the back of the goal, it's calmer."

Dynamo Moscow hockey players have been performing well after the New Year. They won all four January games of the KHL regular season in regulation time and thus moved up to the top four of the Western Conference. The home win over SKA St. Petersburg (5:4), which was on its way to the capital after being defeated on its own ice by Spartak Moscow (0:5), was especially bright for the White and Blue. In the game with Dynamo, the Army men from the Northern Capital led 3-1 midway through the first period, but Alexei Kudashov's wards battled back in the second and took a 4-3 lead.

In the third period, three and a half minutes before the end of regulation time, SKA equalized. However, in the last minute Dynamo got an opportunity to play the majority and quickly realized it - Nikita Gusev brought his team the victory 27 seconds before the siren. Forward Dmitry Rashevsky scored a goal and an assist in this match. In an interview with Izvestia, he commented on the game, assessed the Dynamo's results this season and talked about how the team was affected by the December arrival of goalie Vladislav Podyapolskiy from Lada in Togliatti.

- Before the game, did you emphasize that SKA is coming to visit you after a tough home defeat at the hands of Spartak (0:5) and will try hard to rehabilitate for that failure?

- We understood that they would be loaded. Of course, we were ready for an active start from the opponent. But they started very actively - we didn`t play well in defense, so we conceded goals and lost 1:3. But you can't play so actively the whole game like SKA did in the first period. So we just waited for our chances, adjusted our tactics and managed to score goals. And in the end, when the score was tied, Nikita Gusev worked well, scoring on a power play in the last minute. Big thanks to him! And to our goalkeeper Vladislav Podyapolskiy, who helped us out at his goal.

- Are you calmer for your goal after Podyapolskiy's transfer to Dynamo in December?

- Of course, the calmness has increased. When there is a wall at the back of the goal, it becomes calmer. Podyapolskiy is one of the best goalies in the KHL, there's nothing to say. When you realize that everything is secure in the back, you get better on offense.

- Was it much harder in the first half of the season? Nervous about Hunter Miska's mistakes?

- I can't comment on that. Especially Hunter has already left Dynamo. All goalkeepers are good - just someone is a little better, someone is a little worse. Some are lucky, some are unlucky. The fact is that Miska played the first half of the season, now Podyapolskiy is playing. So it was necessary.

- Are you satisfied with the results and the team's play after almost two-thirds of the regular season?

- In general, yes. I don't want to jinx it, but our game started to improve. We started scoring goals, and we started scoring a lot of them. At the beginning of the season we couldn't score more than two goals per game. Now, thank God, we are making progress. The main thing is that it should continue. We will work to make it so.

- Is it important for Dynamo to finish the regular season as high as possible? Or it doesn't matter where to enter the playoffs, taking into account the fact that you snatched the first place in the last regular season, but fell out of the Gagarin Cup at the end of the second round?

- We don't have any goal to take first place in the regular season by any means. We just tune in to every next game and want to win it. And we do everything for that. We don't look at the table, but our task is to give our best and try to win every game.

- Why do you show good performance in January in the form of goals in three consecutive matches?

- I don`t know what it has to do with. A miracle! (Smiling.) I will not reveal the secret. I just work qualitatively - it brings results.