"Let's not pick our opponent"

The regular season is coming to an end in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). One of the best teams of the last month is Dynamo Moscow. For most of the winter, the Blue and White were in a very severe crisis, dropping from fourth place in the Western Conference to eighth with the risk of falling out of the playoff zone. But in early February, Vyacheslav Kozlov's team had a week-and-a-half break for the All-Star Game, after which the team won seven out of eight meetings. However, then there were two home defeats from Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (0:4) and in overtime from SKA St. Petersburg (1:2).

As a result, six matches before the end of the regular season, Dynamo is in eighth place, the last in the Western playoff zone, but the gap from competitors is not as big as in early February - only three points from the fourth line, and the blue and white played one match less than the Moscow team ahead of them. CSKA, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, SKA and Spartak Moscow. In an interview with Izvestia, blue and white defender Daniil Pylenkov commented on the results of the last month, his huge playing time and the impact of Artem Sergeev's disqualification on him after he knocked down a line referee.

— In recent matches, you have spent an abnormally long playing time on the ice, even for a first—team hockey player - 31 minutes with Avtomobilist, 33 minutes with SKA. Is it possible to withstand such a load?

— I am very pleased that the coaching staff trusts me so much. I always like to play a lot. Although it turned out better against SKA due to overtime, but on the whole I can stand it. Basically, all our guys are qualified, they all work and can play as much as they want. But the coaching staff chooses who gets to play for how many minutes.

— After the February 1-4 defeat to Dynamo, SKA head coach Igor Larionov said that he did not see any problems in your club for his team except for the majority. This week Vyacheslav Kozlov said that he would inform his guys if they didn't know that they were being thought of in such a way that they would snack. As a result, did the Dynamo head coach somehow focus on those words?

— It was said in the locker room. Yes, in principle, we have all seen these words of Larionov, we read the press. What can I say. The SKA coach expressed his opinion. He was handed over to us, but we go out and play our game.

— Is it a shame that the coach with whom you played in the Russian youth national team spoke like that?

"It's his right. God is his judge. If he said so, it means he thinks so.

— The match against SKA was the first of three for which Artem Sergeev was disqualified. Is his absence affecting him?

— Tema is one of the leading defenders of our team. Of course, it affects. More playing time falls on me, Kiriukha (Kirill Adamchuk. — Ed.) and Zhigu (Igor Ozhiganov. — Ed.), our captain. I wish there were fewer such moments.

— So without this suspension, you wouldn't have had so much playing time?

— I think it would be distributed among the four of us.

— Why has Dynamo changed so much in the last month that, after the disastrous December and January, it has issued a long winning streak?

— Through teamwork and teamwork. We feel a little better psychologically, and it's paying off.

— Is it just a matter of psychology?

— It's a matter of psychology, and we've worked a little bit on the defense zone. Hence the positive result. We started winning by playing defense. We have adjusted, or rather, adjusted this component. That's why the victories started.

— Were there any meetings within the team after those failures that helped us achieve the results that the team is showing now?

— Of course, everyone in the locker room understood that the result we had before was unsatisfactory. You could even say it's very bad. Everyone understood that something needed to be fixed. So we took a break for the All-Star Game. After that, we went out and now we're playing a completely different hockey game.

"When we keep score, everything turns into a not-so-good picture."

Dynamo Moscow hockey player Artyom Sergeev — about the reasons for missed victories in the KHL and failure in the second half of the season

— Do the defeats from Avtomobilist and SKA mean that all this stops working again?

— No, the game as a whole is going well. We just didn't realize our chances. It's too bad that we didn't win the game against SKA. But in the remaining matches we will try to win and climb the table as high as possible.

— Given Dynamo's proximity to the fourth place in the Western Conference, do you have a goal to finish in the top 4 at the end of the regular season in order to gain home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs?

— We are not looking at the playoffs yet, because it is difficult to predict anything in the Western Conference. And we will not guess the opponent. Let's go out to whoever we go out to. That's why we're going out at the moment, just to win every game.

— Isn't there even a mandatory goal to avoid the eighth place and not get into the first round of the leading Western Yaroslavl "Locomotive"?

— Should we be afraid of Lokomotiv? In the playoffs, the series starts from 0-0, and then we'll see.

— Doesn't it bother you even that you dropped to eighth place after two defeats?

— Yes, we are the eighth. But we go out and play to win. Yes, we did not bring the match against SKA to victory, allowing him to even the score at the end of regular time. But now we will do everything to win the remaining matches of the regular season and rise as high as possible.

— What do I need to do to get into the playoffs in the same shape as I am now?

— You have to play your game and win. And then we'll see how things will continue in the playoffs.