Summit Series Game 3: Canadians tie Soviets, but there’s no doubt they lost something too

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in the Star on Sept. 7, 1972, following Canada’s 4-4 tie with the Soviets on Sept. 6, and is part of ‘Summit Series At 50’ — celebrating the 50th anniversary of the iconic eight-game hockey series between the Soviet Union and Canada.

WINNIPEG With only 13 seconds remaining in a game that had the hockey fans of two continents reaching for the tranquilizers, Alexander Nikolavich Maltsev whipped a shot from a soggy spot 20 feet to the left of the Team Canada net.

Tony Esposito, the shutout king of big league hockey in North America, reacted slowly. His view was screened by the mass of sinew and bone that was churning and wrestling, bobbing and weaving, almost to the edge of his goal crease.

At the final flicker of an eyelash, Tony spotted the puck and made the save. His brother, Big Phil, most prolific shooter in a league that once was considered to tower higher than Mount Everest over any other circuit in the world, was checking Maltsev.

Phil had frozen in his stance, toe to toe with the Soviet star, as the shot was delivered. Maltsev also had stopped dead in his skate tracks. Both players sensed this could be the knockout punch.

When Tony smothered the puck, the mask of horror on Phil’s face changed to a wide grin. He looked Maltsev in the eye and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

The Russian shook his head and smiled. It was an exchange of thoughts without words. Maltsev was saying to Phil: “Comrade, you could have won but you almost lost.”

Phil was saying to Maltsev: “Friend, we should have won but we’re damned happy to settle for a draw. Trice, you were two goals down. Don’t you know when you’re licked?”

Vladislav Tretiak, the skinny Soviet goalie, continues to be the single most persistent factor in what now looms as a Canadian loss of the series.

He picked off what would have been the winning goal by Paul Henderson in the third period.

Henderson didn’t even shoot when he could see the white of Tretiak’s eyes. He waited until he could see the fillings in his teeth. Tretiak made a stab and grabbed the puck, which was perfectly fired.

When Soviet coach Vsevolod Bobrov was asked what Tretiak will do with all the rings he is receiving for being picked as outstanding Soviet player, Bobrov replied: “The first one was for himself. He is just married, so the second one is for his wife.”

And after that?

Bobrov thought a moment and replied: “The third one will be for his girlfriend.”

While the scoreboard read 4-4 in this third game of the Canada-Soviet summit series, there isn’t much doubt the Canadians have lost something. The teams have almost identical records as they fly west to Vancouver for the final leg of the Canadian tour on Friday night.

The Soviets clobbered their hosts 7-3 in the first game at Montreal.

It was probably the biggest surprise in Canadian sport since Maternal Pride won the Queen’s Plate at odds of 100 to 1, away back in 1924.

Canada rebounded Monday with a convincing 4-1 victory in Game 2 at Maple Leaf Gardens and all the partisans, loyalists and native sons said the pros were about to start their promised sweep.

It isn’t going to be that way at all. The best Harry Sinden’s stars can do now is a one-game cushion before the action shifts to Moscow. They won’t have that unless they beat the Russians in Vancouver and they’re no better than even money, in any realistic morning line, to do that.

In Moscow, it’s going to be tough — an eight-hour difference in time zones, European referees, bigger ice. The Soviet nationals also will have the vocal support of their own fans.

“We have some players who should strengthen our team,” coach Bobrov said after last night’s game.

“There are some younger boys who look good. We also have players (Anatoli Firsov) and (Vitaly) Davidov, who were unable to accompany us to Canada because they were hurt.”

Bobrov undoubtedly was indulging in a bit of what the track and field athletes call “psyching” the opposition. The real story on Davidov, one of the Soviet Union’s top players, apparently is that he simply failed to make this team. Firsov, an outstanding forward, is believed to have been unhappy since Anatoli Tarasov was fired as head coach.

There can be no doubt about Bobrov’s willingness to gamble on youth, though. He inserted his university line of Yuri Lebedev, Alexander Bodunov and Vyacheslav Anisin into last night’s key game.

This threesome was lifted from the Soviet team which won the hockey championship of the World Student Games at Lake Placid last winter. The line also was largely responsible for last night’s tie. Lebedev and Bodunov each scored a goal and Anisin earned an assist.

The students were so successful that they started speculation in the Canadian camp. Would Sinden take a similar gamble with some of the young Turks in his group — Richard Martin, Gil Perreault, Marcel Dionne, and one or two others who have been getting restless over not being allowed to dress for a game?

Bobrov and his assistant, Boris Kulagin, came up smelling roses in their pre-game strategy. Besides getting the university line into action, they replaced Rags Ragulin and Yuri Lyapkin, two of the slower members of the defence. Both moves paid off.

Georgi Ragulsky, a high executive in Soviet hockey, claims his team came over to learn. This caused Stan Mikita, who twice cleaned out the NHL trophy cabinet in single seasons, to ask: “Have they learned anything? We have.”

Actually, the Soviet objective when the team left Moscow was one win and one draw in Canada. That was the best they felt any reasonable person could expect. They already have met their quota, with one game in hand.

The most embarrassing situation for Sinden — aside from that 7-3 shellacking in the opener — is that the National Hockey League’s most talented players simply can’t risk a power play against the Russians.

Three times in three games, the Soviets have scored while they were short-handed. The first time it happened — in Montreal — it was felt that maybe it was a fluke.

It was no fluke. The comrades did it twice last night. Vladimir Petrov did it in the first period. Valeri Kharlamov repeated the trick in the second period when the Russians seemed to be hanging on the ropes.

More from ‘Summit Series At 50’:

Summit Series Game 2: Canada shows why they’re the NHL stars, evening series vs. Soviets

Summit Series Game 1: Soviets embarrass Canadians on home ice — and demonstrate how the game should be played

Dave Feschuk | How the 1972 Summit Series changed the way Canada looks at hockey

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