Pavel Zubov: Lada's Near-Comeback Brings No Satisfaction

Lada trailed Dynamo Minsk 0-5 in Fonbet KHL action and still lost 4-5, and head coach Pavel Zubov said the near-comeback brought him no comfort.

"It was almost a comeback, but there is no satisfaction at all," Zubov said. "I praised the lads for the third period, but I told them that doesn't work for us. Zero points is zero points, whether it's 4-5 or 0-5." He added that the fifth goal against his side came from a serious mistake by one of the forwards, a type of error he said the coaching staff keeps addressing with the players.

Asked why Lada only found their game in the third period, Zubov pointed to a threadbare squad. "We have no rotation, the same people keep playing," he said. "The psychological, moral and physical state of the team is not easy. The opponent pressed us well, and it was hard for our young defencemen. But this is their education right now."

The defeat extends a losing run Zubov called difficult to break out of. "There are a lot of injuries, problems with the roster and the rotation," he said. "I can't blame the lads — they're carrying a heavy load, plus a lot of travel and away matches. But that should never lead to results and scorelines like this. Today we showed we can trouble an opponent, even though doing that from 0-5 down is very hard."

He also linked the results to a shortage of quality lower down the squad. "It's really missing," he said of his younger defencemen and forwards breaking into the league. "Puck reception, passing, speed of decision-making — we were talking about that in the dressing room just now. Some of them are already properly out of their depth. The young lads who came up from the VHL need to be given a breather, coached and brought back in gradually."

On the injury list, Zubov said Savchik had been due to travel with the team but pulled back once contact drills began, judging himself not ready. Doctors are holding back other players to avoid a relapse, he said: Romanov needs two to three more weeks, and Ryzhov is further still from a return.

With rotation this thin, further defeats of this kind may keep testing Lada's younger players before the squad has enough fit bodies to ease the load on them.