Barys head coach Mikhail Kravets commented on a big win over Tolyatti's Lada in the KHL regular season. The Astana club won its first away match of the season 6:0. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
According to Kravets, before the game the coaching staff paid special attention to discipline, battles and the opponent's power play.
"I want to congratulate the fans on the victory and the team. It was not an easy game, the opponent is serious. In the previous meeting Lada won. We knew the opponent plays well on the power play. We needed speed, we needed to win one-on-one battles, get to the crease and not take penalties. In principle, that is what we did," the Barys press service quoted the coach as saying.
The coach admitted that the start of the game was not the most confident for Barys, but then the team managed to readjust.
"In the first period we got a little lost, probably did not wake up, or, on the contrary, were overexcited. Then we pulled ourselves together, started playing more with the puck, began to attack sharply and play well in defense. We blocked a lot of shots and gave few chances to shoot at our goal," the specialist noted.
Kravets spoke separately about Justin Bailey, who scored a double. According to the coach, the American forward was initially invited to the team for one of the leading roles.
"When we were choosing him, we had a conversation with him. Of course, we took this player for a leadership position," Kravets said.
In the match against Lada, Bailey scored Barys's second and fifth goals. Jake Massie, Semyon Simonov, Ian McCoshen and Tys Thompson also stood out for the Astana side. The Kazakh club won 6:0 and claimed its third victory in four matches of the new KHL season.
Bailey has scored points in all four of Barys's opening matches. After the double in Tolyatti, the 31-year-old forward has nine points – five goals and four assists. He remains the top scorer of the Astana team.
Before the meeting with Lada, Barys routed Sibir at home 7:1, beat Salavat Yulaev 8:6 and lost to Amur 1:3. The team's first away tour will continue with matches in Magnitogorsk, Yaroslavl and Moscow.