"Every team is playing better these days, you can beat everyone but also lose," says the Belarusian captain

The match against Slovenia (7:1) was probably the most important in the whole tournament. Summarize it a little.
It was our last game and if we lost it we would fall out to first division. I think we played our best game tonight, everybody worked hard to win it.

Was it just the match against France that sent you to the relegation?
It is certainly not about just one game. We haven’t played really well the whole tournament, but we’ve got a lot of chances today and we capitalized them.

What was the flaw in performance of your team during the tournament?
I think we played as hard as we could in every shift. Maybe it was too much pressure for us. And also the other teams were playing better. Every team is playing better these days, you can beat everyone but also lose.

Could you summarize the last season you had in Toronto? In terms of personal statistics you had your best season so far.
Yeah, I think it was great season for me but we didn’t make it to play-offs and I think next year is going to be better than this one.

Why do you think your team did not qualify?
We changed roster a lot during the last three years, many young guys have come. If we preserve the group of players we have right now we can make it to the play-off in the coming season.

Could it also be the curse of your head coach Ron Wilson? He’s been coaching for 17 years and didn’t get to play-offs nine times. And if he got there he didn’t go far.
Oh, I know. But he is the first coach under who we started winning games. We should give him some more time. I personally believe in my coach.

Do you enjoy playing in line with Nikolai Kulemin and Clark MacArthur?
Yes. I think it’s the best line we had. [they combined for 80 goals out of 218 that Maple Leafs scored as a team] It is hard to play without my partners 

Clark’s contract ends after this season and he is becoming a restricted free agent. If he eventually goes away to play for other team who would you like to play with?
Oh, I don’t think he will go away. I don’t want to think about him being traded. He will stay in Toronto.

You had a conflict with Sergej Kostitsyn when you were playing back in Montréal. Does it have any effect on your friendship with Andrei who are you playing with here at World champs?
We’re still friends. We’re friend here at the national team and we stay friends outside national team but we are never friends when we play against each other.

The World Championship in 2014 will be hosted in your homeland Belarus.
Yeah, I hope we would make it amazing. So I have two more years to achieve something with Toronto but I would certainly like to come to the championship 2014 even if it collides with the NHL play-offs.

Which goalie and defenseman do you hate to play against?
Uf, it’s a hard question. I would say the best goalie is probably Bryzgalov. And defenseman... I just don’t know, there are many good defensemen we have to play against.

And who would you hope will get the Stanley Cup this season?
Detroit or Nashville. You know, I cheer for my Belarusian partners. Ruslan Salei is playing for Red Wings and Sergei Kostitsyn is playing for Predators.

 

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