Grigorenko: Traktor Must Learn How to Win

The home side stayed in the contest before conceding late, falling behind 1-4 with too little time left to respond. It was the third defeat in Traktor's last four home fixtures, each of them close on the scoreboard.

Forward Mikhail Grigorenko said finishing remains the club's central problem. "We conceded goals we didn't need to, and once it was 1-4 it was hard to come back," Grigorenko said. "Playing well and winning are two different things. We need to learn how to win. The coaching staff will look at the video and tell us what to fix." Asked what the team is missing, he said: "We're short of goals. There are a lot of nuances to it. We have to keep working." On the coming away trip, he added: "Right now everyone is trying, everyone is trying to carry out the coach's instructions. We hope we can turn things around on the road."

Head coach Scott Gordon took a different view of the same match. "I liked how much time we spent in the attacking zone. I think it was one of our best games of the regular season by that measure," Gordon said. "Unfortunately we had one breakdown, and the opponent scored from it. In the end that goal decided the game. But leaving the result aside, there was a lot that was positive in how we played."

Gordon pointed to Boris Katchouk's goal as an example of what the side is doing right in front of the net, but said too many attacking-zone possessions end up on the perimeter instead of in the middle of the ice. "We need to get into the middle more often and create a numbers advantage there," he said. On defenceman Mark Radionov, given ice time in the third period, Gordon said: "He played well enough to get minutes in the third period, and that's a good sign. I liked his composure. He didn't give the puck away without need, he tried to keep possession and control the game." Gordon added that Traktor, currently carrying eight defencemen and 13 forwards, are not planning to call up players from the VHL for now.

Traktor now head into a run of away games in which Grigorenko said the players hope to turn their season around.