PRESS ROOM 1974: Game 5
MONTREAL GAZETTE
by BRODIE SNYDER October 1, 1974
Moscow
It's back to the old drawing board for Team Canada
74 in the
wake of last night's 3-2 loss to the Soviet Union
nationals at
the Luzhniki rink here, and coach Billy Harris says
he may use
only three lines "and a couple of extra forwards"
when the two
clubs go back at it tomorrow.
Harris has rotated four lines during the first
five games of
this series in which the Russians now lead the World
Hockey Association
all-stars 2-1 with two games tied.
But the system - so unexpectedly successful in
Canada, where
Harris's old pros were able to keep pace with the
swift Soviets
by changing lines every 45 seconds or so broke down
last night.
The Russians, hitting more than in any of the previous
games,
and skating and passing just as well, kept the Canadians
off
balance most of the night allowing them only 16
shots on goal.
The only line that was at all effective throughout
the game was
that of Ralph Backstrom and the two Howes. Father
Gordie and
son Mark scored the Team Canada goals., Mark's coming
less than
two minutes from the end and making the account
appear respectable
after Gerry Cheevers' unbelievable goaltending stymied
the Russians
time and again.
Aleksandr Malstev, outstanding all through the
series, scored
two goals, giving the Soviets 1-0 and 2-1 leads,
and defenceman
Aleksandr Gusev fired the eventual winner midway
through the
third period.
Voitech Shschepek from Warsaw was the referee and
he was no Polish
joke. He called 12 minor penalties - 7 of them against
Canada
- and Malstev's second and Mark's goal came on the
power play.
But Shchepek also called one misconduct penalty
and that one
to Backstrom, broke the Canadians back.
Team Canada, outplayed so completely that it had
managed only
four shots on goal in each of the first two periods,
had held
on to trail only 2-1 and came out with a rush in
the third.
They took the play to the Soviets and were doing
an excellent
job killing off a penalty to Andre Lacroix when
Valery Kharlamov
the Soviets star right wing, who played another
outstanding game,
and Backstrom tangled near the Team Canada bench.
Backstrom went down in a heap, right in front of
the referee,
and exploded when no penalty was called.
He was quickly give the thumb and sat out the next
ten minutes
effectively destroying the late drive his line had
been generating.
While he was on the bench - thought the teams were
playing at
even strength - Gusev scored the winner.
"He (Kharlamov) kicked the feet from right
out from under me",
Backstrom said, "and right in front of the
referee. I couldn't
believe it. That's when I got mad and said some
things to him.
It turns out he speaks English."
"That's the first misconduct I've had in 12
or 13 years. I don't
remember the last one. I'm not very proud of that."
"You can't win when you get penalties. It
breaks down your momentum
out there. But I think we learned a lot tonight.
"
One thing they learned was that while Kharlamov,
and left wing
Aleksandr Yakushev - who didn't play because of
a knee injury
- might get most of the publicity, Aleksandr Malstev
is a "helluva
hockey player" as team manger Bill Hunter described
him later.
Actually it was player change made by Soviet coach
Boris Kulagin
that may have decided this contest. With Yakushev
out he dressed
unheralded Vladimir Vikulov for the first time in
the series.
Vikulov who works in the corner like Burt Olmstead
in his prime
made all the play for Maltsev's first goal, which
opened the
scoring with 5:34 gone.
The goat on the goal was Paul Henderson, a thee
game winning-goal
hero the last time he was in Luzhniki., but who
made a mistake
when he picked up a loose puck in the Canadian end
and tried
to fire it out of danger behind the Canadian net.
He didn't shoot it hard enough and Vikulov swooped
in from the
side to intercept it and feed it across the goalmouth
to Malstev,
standing at the corner. He had no trouble getting
it high into
the net over Cheevers desperate lunge.
Team Canada was lucky to get out of the first period
just one
goal down, but Cheevers made exceptional stops on
a blast from
Gennady Tsygankov from the point, another grab on
a long shot
by Vladimir Lutchenko, then covering up again against
Malstev
at the doorstep. And he made a dandy on Malstev
who circled around
the net and let a hard backhand shot go while skating
backwards
through the slot.
The crowd of 14,200 - including president Podgorny,
Prmier Kosygin,
and Communist Party Secretary Brezhnev - weren't
back into their
seats after the intermission when Gordie Howe tied
it. He capped
a neat passing play with Backstrom and son Mark
right from the
opening face-off by wacking it past Soviet goalie
Vladislav Tretiak
with a swing that would have had a golf ball out
there 300 yards.
But the Canadians couldn't sustain an offence, as
the game grew
rougher as Johnny McKenzie, reviled here because
of his chippy
play in Vancouver, a particular target of Soviet
elbows and knees.
Cheevers kept the scored tied with good stops off
Juri Lebedev
on a close-in rebound, and off Soviet captain Boris
Mikhailov
from the slot.
But, as irony would have it, it was a penalty to
McKenzie, called
for hooking - to the delight of the crowd at 13:52-
that paved
the way for the Soviets second goal.
Henderson is suffering from the flu, and Bruce
MacGregor his
partner in Team Canada's best penalty-killing tandem
, didn't
play last night after being sick since Saturday.
That took away
from the defense that had allowed the Soviets only
3 power play
goals in 25 chances.
They set it up prettily, with good pressure in
the Canadian end.
Finally, Vikulov got it to Vladimir Shadrin beside
the net and
he flipped a hard pass out to Malstev cutting in
from the left.
The bang-bang play gave Cheevers no chance as Malstev
fired it
up high again.
The Russians made it 3-1 at 11:48 of the third
period. Gusev
picking up a gift goal after Kharlamov did all the
work. The
Soviet right wing cut down the boards,, them moved
inside and
put a move on Brad Selwood and Rick Ley that left
them dazed,
one reminiscent of his splitting Pat Stapleton and
J.C. Tremblay
for a picture goal in the fist game.
This time as he broke in on Cheevers, he moved
to his right across
the goalmouth then flipped the puck to his left.
It just missed
the corner but Gusev following up had an empty net
to shoot at
with Cheevers far out of position following the
move put on him
by Kharlamov.
The Canadians had chances to tie it before that,
however Frank
Maholvich playing center for the first time in living
memory
because of Backstrom's misconduct, was between the
Howes, and
on one of their shifts Mark got in close and Tretiak
made a fine
glove save of his high slap shot.
Trouble brewing all evening with shoving matches,
and a couple
of two punch duels, between Rick Ley and Vladimir
Petrov, and
between Serge Bernier and Kharlamov seemed to erupt
shortly after
the Russians third goal as players of both teams
began to take
cheap shot at each other - hits and trips behind
the play, when
the referee wasn't watching.
There were two-handed cross checks by Paul Shmyr,
on Mikhailov
and by Kharlamov who flung Andre Lacroix against
the cross bar.
And there were sneaky trips involving Kharlamov
on Tremblay,
Mark Howe on Kharlamov, and Kharlamov on Mark.
Just when it looked like things may get out of
hand completely
Shchepek decided to call one and the Soviets Aleksandr
Bodunov
went off at 16:21 for holding Stapleton.
He was still in the box when Mark Howe cut the
Russians edge
to 3-2 at 18:10 making a fine play beside the Soviet
blue line
after being set up by Shmyr. Mark appeared to lose
control of
the puck about 35 feet in front of the net, but
he somehow got
his stick back on it, with two Russians checking
him, and drilled
a wicked low wrist shot into the corner on Tretiak's
stick side.
But that was the last gasp. The Canadians didn't
have another
good scoring opportunity and the Soviets controlled
the puck
for the last 30 seconds.
The Canadians had been trying to get Cheevers off
the ice for
an extra attacker for a minute and once he got as
far as the
blue line but had to rush back into the net to stop
Kharlamov
who had broken away on the short side.
Both sides, Lacroix and Petrov in particular played
dirty and
gestured at the referee after the game but Harris
wouldn't blame
the officiating.
"It was good by international standards",
he said, for the fifth
time in this series. "Sometimes it can lead
to chippiness because
of the inconsistency of the referring."
Both Harris and team manager Hunter said the team
is still adjusting
to the time change from Canada the wider ice surface,
and other
things but both expected a much better performance
in Game Six.
Harris said he'd likely play three lines because
his players
conditioning is getting better all the time. Last
night the
Bernier-Houle-Mahovlich,
the Mike Walton - Henderson, Tom Webster (filling
in for MacGregor)
were almost write-offs, and Lacroix - Bobby Hull
- McKenzie line
was dangerous only when Hull made two or three of
his patented
rushes.
Harris said he didn't think Hull is "100%"
that perhaps the knee
he injured in training camp the second week of September
is bothering
him a little. Hull shrugged that off more concerned
with his
left hand soaking in a bucket of ice water.
" I jammed it up against the glass palm up,
on the first shift
of the game", he said. It bent the ring finger
back and bruised
it some. It's sore."
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