Ilya Vorobyov: "We told the guys that future games will be tougher"

Interim Russian national team head coach Ilya Vorobyov spoke following the 7:0 2018 World Championship victory against Austria.

Interim Russian national team head coach Ilya Vorobyov:

- We worked over our shift at yesterday's training session, it was our main problem against France. Today, that aspect of the game was a lot better.

- Do large victories relax the team?

- We have just spoken about this with the guys. Upcoming games will be more difficult, we need to improve further.

- Will be it tougher against Belarus?

- Every game is different.

- Did you watch Belarus' match against Sweden?

- The Swedes have a quality team. Just like against us in the Euro Hockey Tour, they can score from only a half-chance.

- Why did Igor Shestyorkin play in the third period? Maybe because Vasily Koshechkin didn't have a lot of work?

- No. It was because Igor will play tomorrow against Belarus.

- What are you changing with the national team?

- Some things are changing.

- Which things?

- More passes. However, this depends on the opponents and if they allow us to play that way or not. When the tempo will be twice as high, it will be harder to make passing plays.

- News about Nikita Gusev?

- He has flown in and is with us. At the moment, he has an individual training program. The doctors and fitness coaches will see how he feels and his condition.

- Will Nikita play against Belarus?

- No.

- Are you planning to register him for the competition?

- It depends on his physical condition.

- Has he made your task more difficult? All of the lines look solid at the moment.

- We already have difficult tasks.

- How do you keep the players focused after scoring three goals in the first period?

- Hopefully, this will continue. However, the matches will become more difficult now. The guys are playing with fire.

- The powerplay didn't go very well today.

- We had watched how the Austrians compete when shorthanded. Never mind, we will continue working.

- Did you get the impression that Austria didn't need this match? They let their second goalkeeper play.

- Did you see how many shots he saved yesterday? 38. Any normal coach would have given a different goalkeeper a chance today.

- In this match, did you ask the first line to play in a more simple manner?

- No, why? Their tricky passes didn't get through? The guys are enjoying playing on the ice, I like how they're playing. Do you?

- Both Tampa Bay and Washington are winning their NHL Stanley Cup series. Is the possibility of calling up NHL players closed?

- We have a team here. We will see what happens.

- Will you register Alexei Byvaltsev, Alexei Bereglazov and Nikita Soshnikov for the World Championship?

- We're thinking about this issue.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation