Game #4 vs Czechoslovkia: 1-0 L

From last game, Steve Shutt isn’t in the lineup, and he is replaced by Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers. The lines appear to be the following.

Gainey - Sittler - McDonald

Martin - Perreault - Lafleur

Hull - Esposito - Dionne

Barber - Clarke - Leach

Mahovlich

Canada opens with a lineup of Vachon in net, Robinson and Orr on defense, and last game’s best line, Sittler, McDonald, and Gainey. Right off the bat, Gainey lays a big hit, but it’s the Czechs who get the only possession in the offensive zone after a slick play from Novy.

Canada’s next line is Martin back on the left, with Perreault and Lafleur on the right. Clearly Bowman wasn’t impressed with either of the previous lines, so he’s decided to mix them up a little. Lafleur makes a nice interception and he and Perreault combine for some pretty play, but they are unable to cross the blueline before Martin goes offside.

The Hull, Esposito, Dionne line stays intact, and Potvin goes out with Orr. Hull winds up around behind the net and takes off, but the play goes offside once again.

After the ensuing faceoff, Potvin loses the puck, and Pouzar dangles around Hull, drawing a penalty after Potvin trips him up. Clarke and Barber are the initial PK unit with Lapointe and Savard on the blueline. Almost right away, Barber gets the puck in Canada’s zone, and as he attempts to clear it, he is hooked by Martinec, drawing a penalty to Czechoslovakia. On the 4 on 4, Orr weaves through the Czechoslovkians and dishes it to Mahovlich, who gets off the first shot attempt and first scoring chance of the game, but is turned aside.

Lafleur shows good control on the next play, circling at the blueline before dishing a cross ice pass to Robinson. His shot finds Perreault’s stick in the slot, but Dzurilla is able to make a quick pad save.

Orr then corrals the puck at the blueline and lets a shot fly. It deflects off of two Czech players, forcing Dzurilla to make a sharp save. The Czechs go the other way, and Bubla fires one off of the outside of the post. Then Holik has a shot attempt blocked by Orr’s active stick. Hull once again grabs the puck behind the net, but this time he dishes to Dionne. Dionne tries to throw it across the middle, but it is intercepted, and the Czechs break in, but Peter Stastny goes offside.

Moments later Stastny gets the first shot on goal for the Czechs, but it is from outside any dangerous area. Barber is able to poke the puck up to Clarke, and he breaks in on a 2 on 1 with Leach, but is unable to get the puck across to him. The Czechs ice the puck, and off the faceoff Gainey lays two big hits in a row on Kajkl. Nothing happens for a while, but we do see an interesting unit of Mahovlich with Esposito and Dionne, and Potvin and Robinson on together.

Barber finally gets a shot on goal from just outside the circle, but once again, Dzurilla handles it cooly.

Right after Bubla finds Holik, and he gets a good shot off, forcing a nice kick save from Vachon.

The puck bounces to the blueline, and Bubla fires another one than Vachon is able to knock aside with his blocker. Perreault jumps out onto the ice and uses his speed to create a good chance for Potvin, but once again, Dzurilla is able to make the save and hangs on. The game is pretty tight checking, and neither team can find much open ice. Lafleur makes another good interception though, and he shuffles it back to the point. Savard finds Lapointe, and he gets a good chance, but it is blocked.

Perreault is able to break in, and finds Lafleur in the slot, who taps it back to Martin. Martin has an excellent chance, but Dzurilla kicks it out.

Perreault picks up the loose puck behind the goal and puts it into the slot for Lapointe, and he is turned aside by Dzurilla, who has now stopped 5 scoring chances. On the next shift, Orr puts one right down the middle on the Czech’s tape, and they get a shot off that is once again blocked. Gainey then drops one to McDonald, but it is in his skates, and he isn’t able to get a good shot off.

The Dionne, Hull, and Esposito line comes out, and Ebermann uses his speed behind the Czech goal, and forces Dionne into a tripping penalty. Once again, Barber, Clarke, Savard, and Lapointe are the first unit for the PK. They do an excellent job of clogging up the neutral zone, and the Czechoslovakians have a hard time getting into the Canadian’s zone. Clarke finds Barber up the middle and he is on the receiving end of a classic hip check from Chalupa.

Next, Orr, Potvin, Esposito, and Mahovlich hit the ice on the PK, and Marian Stastny gets a decent shot away, but it sails just wide. Potvin makes a great play on the boards and clears the zone, and Dionne steps out on the ice, bringing the power play to an end. Ironically, Dionne forechecks behind the Czechoslovakian goal, and is tripped up, drawing a penalty in the same fashion he took one.

For the powerplay, Lafleur replaces Dionne on the right wing with Hull and Esposito, and Dionne moves to the right point with Lapointe on the left. Lapointe and Dionne both have shots from the point blocked. Just as the announcer comments on the lack of scoring opportunities in this game, Esposito finds a seam down the middle and hits a streaking Bobby Hull on a breakaway. The puck bounces, and Hull can’t control it, but he still gets a shot off and Dzurilla must make another save.

Potvin, Orr, and the Flyers line goes out, but is unable to get into the zone on the powerplay for a while. When they do, Orr and Potvin make some great passes, and Potvin takes him time before letting a perfect shot go that is deflected just wide. Orr’s pass misses everybody, but bounces off the boards to Barber, who gets a shot off. However it hits Clarke and doesn’t get through onto Dzurilla. Clarke then sets up Barber, but his second attempt on goal is deflected wide by the Czech defenders.

Back at even strength, Marian Stastny almost gets a breakaway, but Lapointe makes an excellent defensive play and pokes it away from him without tripping him. Off the next faceoff, Perreault flies down the ice, but runs into two defenders. It bounces to Martin though, and his centering pass to Lafleur is deflected just out of reach.

The Sittler line takes the ice and Machac makes a stretch pass to Pouzar. Orr makes a great defensive play and breaks up another potential breakaway for the Czechoslovakians. The Flyers line takes to the ice, but they are unable to create anything before the period comes to a scoreless end.

The second period starts with Bobby Orr blocking a shot on his shoulder. He heads off the ice in obvious pain, and is replaced by Lapointe. The first exciting play happens on the fourth shift of the period when Reggie Leach takes the puck for a spin.

Unfortunately he is checked before he can get a good shot away. Their line does continue to create pressure though, and Clarke is able to find Barber in the slot. He gets a weak shot off, but it almost fools Dzurilla through a screen provided by Leach. After the play we see a replay of Barber, and an obvious dive he’s made. The commentator’s explain he’s noted for his diving.

The Sittler line hits the ice, and combine for a great chance. Sittler makes a quick pass to McDonald, who ducks a high check, slips past the defender, and centers it to Gainey. Dzurilla comes out and intercepts the pass, leaving Gainey without the goal.

The slippery Holik then rushes up ice, but with no support he shoots one that gets deflected high and wide. The Czechs will get their first chance of the game next though. Novy gets the puck up the middle, and fakes a shot, then steps just into the slot and fires a low shot wide of the goal. The Czechs apparently get some momentum from this chance, as later on in the shift, a centering pass bounces into the slot and is blocked by Lapointe, the second chance of the game for the Czechoslovakians. The shift of furious pace continues as Martin and Lafleur combine to get Martin a good shot in the slot that Dzurilla is able to turn aside.

The next shift produces a lot quickly for Canada. Mahovlich wins it to McDonald and Orr fires a shot that is deflected by Gainey. It rings off the bar, but for a second Gainey raises his hands, the closest Canada has come to a goal yet. Immediately after, Robinson fires one from the opposite point that Dzurilla kicks out.

The puck is cleared, but Orr brings it right back in, and centers it to Gainey, who is stopped by Dzurilla in the slot. Orr, McDonald, and Robinson let a couple fly from the point, but none are able to challenge the Czechoslovakian goalie Dzurilla. Lapointe steps in off the draw on the next shift and sends one just wide of the right post. The puck comes to Potvin who fires one on goal. It is blocked, but the rebound pops to Leach who is robbed by Dzurilla.  

Esposito then gets an even better chance after Lapointe flutters a pass to him in the slot, where he is wide open.

As usual, Dzurilla denies Canada of the goal. The chances don’t stop there though, as seconds later, Leach finds himself on the doorstep, all alone, but is stopped by Dzurilla. At this point, Canada has had the last 15 shooting attempts in a row.

The next shift Sittler makes a nice centering pass that is just blocked and deflected away from McDonald. Peter Stastny, Novy, and Holik finally break the Canadian’s shot attempt streak as they break in and have a shot from Holik blocked. Vachon is tested soon though, as Stastny finds Holik in the slot, and his slap shot is gloved by Rogatien.

Once again, the chance gives Czechoslovakia momentum, and two shifts later, Jiri Novak has a breakaway chance that hits the post.

They nearly get a tap in later on, but Potvin positions himself well and breaks up the passing play. It isn’t very relevant to the play, but Orr shows off his skills with a nice little spin move.

Canada finally gets a handle on Czechoslovakia and stops their momentum, the Esposito line generating two shots. Esposito is upset that Bubla held his stick and didn’t allow him to get his shot away quick enough. Sittler makes a nice pass to Hull, who blasts a good shot, once again stopped by Dzurilla. The rebound skips over Dionne’s stick.

McDonald also gets a chance in the slot that he backhands high and wide. Novak takes a high stick, but there is no penalty, and he gets attention in the dressing room. Nothing else happens in the period, and the game remains scoreless through forty minutes.

The third period stars with Czechoslovakia's Hlinka firing a shot on goal from just inside the blueline. Dionne takes a hit to make a play, and Esposito’s centering pass just misses Hull. Canada almost ices it, but it hits a broken stick, and they are able to keep it in and generate a shot attempt. The Czechoslovakians attempt another stretch pass, apparently their patent play, but it is once again unsuccessful. Perreault almost gets a chance on a pass from Lafleur, but it doesn’t work. Going the other way, Lapointe stumbles, and Martinec gets a breakaway, but is stopped by Vachon.

Lapointe goes down the other way, and almost sets up Martin, but he is checked at the last second. Right off the next faceoff, Sittler wins it to McDonald, who blasts it, but is robbed by Dzurilla.

Holik impresses with his ability to calmly weave through the Canadian defenders like they are pylons. He’s easily the most slick puck handler on the Czechoslovakian team.

Clarke loses a defensive zone draw and the CSSR combine on a nice passing play that leads to a hot shot from the point that Vachon ensnares with his glove. Another shot from the blueline by Novy later on bounces in front to Martinec, and he deflects it out of the air, but it skids harmlessly across the goalmouth.

Potvin finds Hull, who almost finds a seam, but loses control before he can get into the open space. The Czechoslovakians however dominate shot attempts for a while, but Sittler finally finds some space on the right wing, and lets one rip from the top of the circle, giving Dzurilla a little bit of trouble. That concludes the first 10 minutes, and the teams switch sides.  

Bowman starts with an interesting combo, putting Lapointe and Savard on defense, Lafleur on the left wing, and 5th defender Larry Robinson on the left wing, with 13th forward Pete Mahovlich down the middle. Robinson is able to find Lafleur, who make a nifty drop pass to Mahovlich, who wires one on net that Dzurilla deflects aside.

In response, the shifty Ebermann heads down the ice, shuffling away from Potvin and Orr, and gets a great opportunity on Vachon, who fights away the puck, giving a big rebound.

The shifty Ebermann is swiftly at it again, Hlinka giving him a bank pass that leads to a breakaway. Vachon stays cool and pokes it away.

On the play, Ebermann draws a slashing penalty, the first man advantage since the first period. Barber, Clarke, Orr, and Lapointe are the PK unit, Potvin with his 2nd penalty of the game. Clarke and Barber are replaced up front by Sittler and Savard. Kajkl gets a good shot off but Vachon is equal to the task and steers it wide.

After the penalty, Potvin and Robinson pair together, Orr clearly tired from killing an entire penalty. The Perreault line is about to see the ice for the first time in quite a while, but they are pulled off in favour of the Sittler line. It turns out to be a mistake, as, within 30 seconds, the Czechoslovakians finally draw first blood, with under 5 minutes to go in the game. Martinec drops it to Augusta, who drops it to Novy, who slides his 4th goal of the tournament under a sprawling Vachon.

Now Canada sends out the Perreault line, and Mahovlich’s centering pass is just missed by Perreault. They mount more pressure, garnering three shot attempts in a row before the Clarke line takes over. They press well, getting two shot attempts, but like the other line, they can’t break through into a scoring chance area.

With a minute to go, the Esposito line hits the ice, Canada’s leading scoring line in the tournament. Dionne flips a harmless puck to the net, and Esposito pounces on the rebound, but once again, Dzurilla is right there, covering the angle perfectly. Lafleur replaces Dionne, but the Stastny brothers put on excellent pressure, and waste a good 15 seconds off the clock. Orr gets a decent chance, but blasts it wide of the net. Vachon is pulled, and Bobby Clarke steps onto the ice. Potvin and Lafleur both have their shots blocked, and just like that, the game ends. 1-0 Czechoslovakia is the final score.

All in all, shot attempts were 68 to 45 for Canada, 60 to 40 at even strength. Scoring chances were 22 to 8, showing the dominance of Dzurilla (18 to 8 at even strength). Canada was definitely the better team, especially in the first two periods, but the third period, the one that ended up mattering most, is where Canada didn’t show enough until it was too late. Then again, even if they had done more, could they have solved Dzurilla?

The McDonald, Sittler, Gainey line definitely was not as impactful in this game, but was still pretty decent, generating quite a few decent scoring chances. Esposito’s line dominated the Czechoslovakians when they were out there, but they weren’t able to really penetrate into high danger areas. They generated shot attempts, but not many chances, they were more effective in the sense that they kept the Czechoslovakians from getting any chances at all. Playing alongside Perreault and Martin really seemed to help Lafleur, and his game was much better. That line was good all night, although they did give up a bit to the Czechs. The Clarke line showed obvious chemistry, and had some of Canada’s best chances, but they also have up a lot of shot attempts to the Czechs, and were on for the most of the Czechoslovakian scoring chances. Bobby Orr was great on defense for Canada again. Even though his skating isn’t top notch, he’s so good positionally, and makes really great passes. Robinson and Potvin both did well with him as well, Potvin once again playing physical. Savard struggled a bit this game, he seemed to be on for a lot of the Czechoslovakian chances and shot attempts, and was often victimized by the shifty stickhandling of players like Stastny, Ebermann, and Holik. Vachon was nearly perfect in net, and cannot be blamed for the goal.  

All the data collected can be found here.

Game #3 vs Sweden: 4-0 W

The game’s opening lineups are announced in this game at the Maple Leaf Gardens, and the Toronto Maple Leafs’ own Borje Salming, despite playing for the Swedish team, is greeted with a standing ovation.

Canada starts with a lineup of the Philadelphia Flyers’ Bill Barber, and home favourites Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald of the Toronto Maple Leafs. On defense, the ever solid Denis Potvin and Bobby Orr start, and in goal is, of course, Rogatien Vachon of the Los Angeles Kings in net.

The lines that Canada plans to roll at the beginning of the game seem pretty clear:

Shutt - Mahovlich - Lafleur

Hull - Esposito - Dionne

Gainey - Perreault - Martin

Barber - Sittler - McDonald

Clarke

Potvin - Orr

Savard - Lapointe

Robinson

Of course Jimmy Watson isn’t in the lineup, leaving Canada with only 5 defenders, and an extra forward, Bobby Clarke, who missed last game against the USA due to an injury suffered against Finland.

Anyways, the game gets off to a decent start. Sittler wins the draw to McDonald, who sweeps it back to Potvin, and the Canadians have possession. The Sittler line gets into the zone with a heavy forecheck, and Orr gets the first shot attempt, although it is deflected wide of the net. Perreault sets out for an offensive zone draw with Gainey and Martin on the wings, but is kicked out of the circle. The play doesn’t go for long before Denis Potvin takes a penalty, a minor for interference.

Canada goes with an interesting move, keeping Orr out on the ice with Lapointe, and then putting Savard on Sittler’s wing, three defenders and one forward. That, and a combination of Clarke and Barber on forward with Lapointe and Robinson on the blueline, is effective for Canada, as they keep Sweden from managing a single shot on goal or scoring chance with the man advantage.

The penalty ends and Les Canadiens line of Shutt, Mahovlich, and Lafleur jumps on the ice. Shutt does well to forecheck and cause a turnover behind the Swedish goal, and Canada gets possession.

They’re unable to make anything of the chance, but later on in the shift, Orr puts his skating skills on display, winding from behind the net all the way up the right wing before centering it to Shutt, who is unable to get a stick on it before the Swedes scramble to clear the zone. The Hull, Esposito, and Dionne line then jumps on the ice and gets the first real chance of the game. Potvin carries it down the left wing, and throws it across to a streaking Dionne, who fires a wicked shot from the top of the circle. Astrom does well to kick it out, but his streak of good play ends there.

The puck bounces out the the left half-wall, and Phil Esposito picks it up there. In classic Esposito fashion, he just fires it on net as quick as possible. Maybe Astrom is still stumbling from his fall after Dionne’s shot (and Potvin subsequently taking out his skate as he comes across the ice), or maybe the slight deflection off of Bobby Hull’s skate catches him off guard, but this one, unfortunately for Hardy, slides between his pads and into the net. 1-0 Canada, just like that.

Perhaps this goal would be called back in the modern day with the “Coach’s Challenge” for goaltender interference as Potvin took out Astrom’s skate as he cut through the crease. Anecdotes aside, it’s 1-0 for Canada, and Hull has his 4th goal of the tournament already.

Barber, Sittler, and McDonald hit the ice again, with Savard and Lapointe on the blueline. Bergman turns it over, and has a brain lapse, continuing to skate up the ice. Savard dumps it back off the boards, and Sittler and Barber have a brief 2 on 1. Barber gets a quick shot off, but Astrom is able to keep his cool, and stops it rather easily. Scoring chances are now 2-0 in favour of Canada.

The line continues to pin Sweden in their own zone for the rest of the shift, but can’t generate another legitimate chance. The Esposito, Hull, and Dionne line then hits the ice, once again with Potvin and Orr on the points. Up to this point, outside of his brief shift on the PK, Robinson hasn’t seen the ice, and the aforementioned two along with Savard and Lapointe have had every shift. Potvin gets a hot shot from the point, and two shots are generated by a good forecheck from Bobby Hull. Esposito picks up the loose puck, but both shots are from bad angles, and easily turned aside by Astrom.

Up to this point it’s been all Canada, with a score of 1-0 on the board, 2-0 in scoring chances, and 9-3 in shot attempts. However, they make their first mistake, Potvin taking too long to clear the zone after a mistimed play by Orr. Potvin loses it to Widing, who gets off a shot in the slot. A rebound pops out, and Vachon is forced to make another save on Lundstrom. Both were scoring chances, bringing that count to 2-2, just like that.

The play goes offside, and the Gainey, Perreault, Martin line takes to the ice. Sweden gets off a shot, the has another one blocked. The play is quickly transitioned after this block, and Perreault and Martin fly down the ice. Perreault takes it down the right wing. He fakes a slapshot to get the defender to go down, but is unable to get the centering pass to Martin on his backhand, the play is broken up. Sweden’s Lars-Erik Eriksson gets another good chance in front when Gainey is unable to clear, but Vachon cooly turns that one aside as well. Then, we see Anders Hedberg, one of Sweden’s stars, on display, darting past Savard before being stopped by Lapointe, showing off his speed.

Not to be outdone, Gilbert Perreault quickly reasserts himself as the most skilled player on the ice with this quick burst of speed and stickhandling expertise down the middle of the ice. He splits the defense with ease, then darts in on goal, barely missing the top corner as he pushes it just high over the net.

Nothing much eventful happens for a while, outside of Potvin laying a big hit, and Orr and Lafleur combining on a nice rush that led to nothing. Hull continues to forecheck well and play with the speed of a 25 year old despite being 37. Esposito gets into a scrum with Lundstrom. Lundstrom gets a little too into it, and takes a penalty, giving Canada the man advantage. Dionne shows off his patience and passing ability, and sends a nice saucer pass across from the right half-wall to Potvin. It takes a little deflection though, and Potvin receives it awkwardly on his backhand. The shot is weak, and Astrom is able to handle it easily enough. Potvin gets another shot of the ensuing draw, and it is deflected by Perreault, but once again Astrom stays solid, denying the Sabres’ star. The power play yields little else, although Perreault once again shows off his fluidity, entertaining the crowd with a less successful attempt at replicating his earlier rush.

After returning to even strength, the Swedes get a few decent shots. Salming blasts one from the right point following a faceoff, and then on the next draw on the opposite side, he gets another shot, forcing a flashy glove save from Rogie Vachon.

Shutt breaks down the ice on the next draw, and is greeted fiercely by Salming and his partner who tie him up and bring him down to the ice as a tandem. The ice decides to give Salming a little payback, and he takes an odd tumble, allowing Canada to keep the puck in. However, it’s all for naught, as Shutt takes a cross checking penalty in front of the net, giving Sweden their 2nd powerplay of the game.

This time it is Clarke and Barber, then Sittler and Gainey as the forward groups, and once again Potvin and Orr, then Lapointe and Savard on defense. There’s a bit of a scramble in front at one point, but once again, the penalty killers do a solid job, keeping Sweden to just two shots attempts, both misses, and not scoring chances.

Nothing eventful happens for another stretch, but we do get to see the Golden Jet take flight. Hull grabs the puck from Lapointe behind the net and rushes down the ice, keeping the puck away from the Swedes. He gets into the zone, but nothing comes of it. Much like Perreault’s rush showed, the individualistic way of playing the game in the 1970s often led to a zone entry, but no sustained zone time or pressure.

After this is when we see our first new line combo. Up until now, the lines mentioned at the beginning had stayed intact, but now we see a new unit, with Gainey on the left of Sittler and McDonald instead of Bill Barber. Perhaps now that they’ve seen Clarke kill two penalties, they know he’s recovered from his injury well enough to play, and want to put Barber back on his wing full time. Orr’s skating ability allows him to make some aggressive pinches to keep the puck in the Swedish zone. However it backfires a bit when he loses sight of Heberg, and when the puck gets past Orr, he and Eriksson break down on a 2 on 1. Nothing comes of it, but Hedberg does get a decent shot off from the outskirts of the home plate area, and forces a quality save from Vachon.

Much to the delight of the Toronto crowd, Sittler and McDonald break in on a rush of their own, but McDonald’s hot shot from the top of the right circle is held onto by Astrom after he makes a good save with his left arm.

Martin has a decent chance in the slot that is blocked, and that would be it for Canada in this period in terms of shot attempts. Sweden would garner three more shot attempts, only one on net, and none scoring chances. Potvin gets away with an elbow, showing the dirty side to his game. Clarke gets his first regular shifts, playing with Barber and Dionne. At one point, Clarke makes an unconscious pass back to where Orr would normally be on the right side. However, Orr is anything but normal, as he is making a rush down the right wing, and humorously, Clarke has to retrieve his own pass. That concludes the first period, the score 1-0 for Canada on the goal from Hull (Esposito, Dionne), and the shot attempts at an even 18-18. The scoring chances are 7-3 for Canada (5-3 at even strength), and the even strength shot attempts are 15-13 for Canada (CF% of 53.57%).

Sittler and McDonald are back with Barber to start the 2nd period, Orr and Potvin on the points. They ice the puck, and Salming fires another shot from the right point of the draw (his third play like this on the night). This time Sittler wins the draw, and puck goes down for a faceoff in Sweden’s end.

Perreault, Martin, and Gainey take the ice, back again to the regular lines. Lapointe and Savard are on defense, and interestingly Robinson hasn’t seen the ice since the first penalty that Potvin took less than 2 minutes into the game. Perreault makes another spectacular rush, swerving past two Swedish players before Martin goes offside.

Robinson finally gets his shift, playing alongside Bobby Orr while the Esposito, Hull and Dionne line takes to the ice. A puck bounces into the slot and Esposito backhands it just wide, the first scoring chance of the period. Esposito makes a bad pass into Hull’s feet behind the net, and Sweden pins Canada into their own zone for a while, but is unable to get possession. Sweden makes a centering pass that is missed, and the puck is pinned on the wall, resulting in a faceoff. Salming weaves into the zone after Shutt’s pass through the neutral zone misses Lafleur. He lets one go from between the hashmarks and just misses high. Salming has been Sweden’s best player by a long shot so far, although Hedberg has stood out as dangerous, generating a few decent chances.

Mahovlich and Lafleur make a few nice passes, but Mahovlich squanders the play when he tries to carry the puck into the zone himself instead of dishing it off. Sittler, McDonald, and Orr combine for some pretty passing in the Swedish zone, but Orr fans on the shot. Bergman makes an excellent stretch pass, and the streaking Hedberg races in alone. He gets a shot off, but it isn’t much, as Vachon reads the play well, coming out aggressively and taking away Hedberg’s angle.  

Potvin goes down in a heap, and takes a while to get off the ice. With Potvin off, Robinson sees the ice again, this time with Lapointe. Speaking of Lapointe, the Canadiens’ defender makes a nice rush, but has his shot blocked. Off the ensuing play, Canada gets two chances. Barber gets a weak shot off that is blocked by Sittler, who corrals it and sends a backhand shot just wide.

The Swedes ice the puck, and the Esposito line takes to the ice. Potvin is back, and pairs up with his regular partner, Orr. Sweden’s Per-Olov Brasar takes it over the line and makes a centering pass that is tapped just wide by Sjoberg.

Hull lets a classic drive rip from center ice, just missing the goal. The puck gets into the zone though, and Dionne takes it all the way from the pack of the net to the left point. He leaves it for Savard, who takes it into the zone. He doesn’t shoot, but centers it to a wide open Guy Lapointe. Lapointe’s low drive is stopped by Astrom, and the rebound from Savard is swept just wide.

Sweden is penalized on the play as suddenly Canada mounts tremendous pressure on them. A powerplay unit with Potvin and Orr on the back end and Martin, Perreault and Lafleur takes to the ice. Frustratingly, they are unable to get into the zone for most of the powerplay. At one point, Hedberg makes an interception and darts down into the Canada zone. The only shot attempt is blocked by Bergman. Just as the penalty expires, Potvin finally makes a slick rush, and gets off a shot before he is taken down at the top of the circle. A line of Barber, Clarke, and Mahovlich takes to the ice and gets a few shot attempts, but no real chances.

Esposito ties it up on an offensive zone draw, and Hull moves it back to Robinson, who takes a shift with Orr. His shot is steered aside by Astrom. Two quick offsides in succession for both teams highlight that the play has been bit choppy and slow, with no real exciting plays from either side in a while.

Finally something happens when the Leafs’ duo and Bob Gainey hit the ice. Savard finds McDonald, and he blisters one on goal. Astrom makes the initial save, but Gainey pounces on the rebound. He slaps it on goal quickly, and a sliding Astrom can’t stop it. 2-0 Canada now on a quick play after a stretch of sloppy action from both sides.

Canada then gets interesting with their lines, putting Lafleur with Barber and Clarke. The new combo is unable to produce anything, but it’s interesting to see things getting shaken up. Hull gets a drop pass from Esposito, circles around the blueline, and blasts one just wide. Another interesting combo is used, as Hull stays out to play with Perreault and Martin.

The Sittler, McDonald and Gainey line goes out again, Orr double shifting with Robinson. Sittler tips one out to center, and Gainey picks it up. He races down, almost on a breakaway, but is tripped. Surprisingly nothing is called. Once again, Clarke and Barber go out with Lafleur, and Clarke is almost able to tuck one in at the side of the net.

Lars-Erik Eriksson gets a shot off, then puts an innocent rebound wide from a bad angle. Now Hull is out with Esposito and Mahovlich, another interesting combo. Canada forechecks well, and a tired looking Swedish group struggles to clear their zone. Esposito wins a draw cleanly to Orr who fires one just wide.

Sittler breaks down the wing with speed and centers to Gainey, but he is brought down and unable to intercept the centering pass, but he does draw a penalty.

On the powerplay Esposito, Hull and Dionne create a few chances, but Astrom and a frantic Swedish defense keep them from scoring. Orr makes a dangerous centering pass to Potvin in the slot, but he is unable to control it, and it comes to nothing. Potvin makes a dangerous rush, and passes it to Shutt, who blasts it just wide as the penalty ends. Dionne fires one, it is blocked. The rebound goes to Mahovlich, who shows off his playmaking skills and centers it, and Dionne is Johnny-on-the-spot to fire it in from the slot. 3-0 Canada with 20 seconds to go in the 2nd period.

That’s all that happened in the 2nd period. The final tally during the second is a 2-0 score for Canada (3-0 total), the shot attempts are 28-10 (46-28 total), and the scoring chances are 10-3 (17-6 total).

The third period starts with Robinson, Orr and the Montreal line reunited. The line is unable to generate anything, but they do force an icing. Gainey, McDonald, and Sittler take to the ice with Lapointe and Savard, and the commentator and I both note than the changes seem quicker than the first two periods, as the teams want to keep their players’ legs fresh (nowadays, these changing speeds would just seem normal, but :30 to :45 seconds was a really quick shift then).

Robinson is out with Orr again, as Potvin has seemingly disappeared. Ever since he crashed into the boards in the 2nd period, Robinson’s usage has gone up tremendously.

Nothing happens for a while, until Lapointe makes a centering effort that isn’t picked up by any of the tired forwards. Savard then finds Bobby Orr who jumps on the ice and breaks in on goal. He gets a good chance but is stopped, before he crashes face first into the boards, drawing a penalty for tripping as he goes down.

With Salming in the box, Canada has a better chance on the powerplay. Martin gets a shot right off the opening draw, but Astrom gloves it. The value of Orr really starts to shine, as he jumps into the rush off a nice pass from Potvin, and breaks in for another five bell chance.

Back to back plays by Orr showing off his extraordinary skill. Barber makes a nice play to keep it in at the line, but Canada can’t keep sustained pressure. Hedberg takes off shorthanded, but Orr matches him stride for stride and blocks a good chance. Starting to see why this guy, playing on a bum knee, is considered by some to be better than Gretzky.

A unit of 5 Montreal Canadiens takes to the ice (Shutt, Mahovlich, Lafleur, Lapointe, Savard), but they are unable to finish off the powerplay strong.

Back at even strength, Lafleur giving Widing a whack, and takes a stupid penalty in the offensive zone. It seems as though it hurt Widing’s hand badly, as he is shown getting attention for it on the bench. Lafleur gets a minor and a 10 minute misconduct for the penalty.

The Swedes do well to control the puck on the powerplay, but Clarke, Barber, Orr, and Potvin get in the passing and shooting lanes and keep them from generating any real chances. Gainey and Sittler then forecheck well, and Sweden cannot even enter the zone on the second half of the powerplay.

At even strength, the puck takes a funny bounce, and Sittler jumps on it. He sets up McDonald in front, then gets a rebound, but Astrom turns both aside.

They change sides halfway through the period, and seconds into the second half, Sittler strikes again. Robinson feeds him on the left side, and he breaks in, just missing on a shot from the slot. Then, Orr keeps the puck in at the line, and swipes it into the zone. Sittler gets it down low, then makes a nice centering pass. Gainey is right in the middle of the slot, and puts it perfectly in the corner past Astrom, his second goal of the game. 4-0 Canada.

Canada continues to play well, not really letting Sweden get many chances, but not getting many themselves. With Lafleur’s misconduct, the lines are shuffled, and Esposito finds himself centering Shutt and Mahovlich. In an interesting move, Potvin pairs with Lapointe. Esposito makes a good defensive play, then shows the only speed he’s shown all game, going on a nice rush to generate a good chance.

Barber gets a penalty for high sticking, and he’s not too pleased. Canada gets a good rush but a centering pass is cleared by Sweden. Hedberg breaks down the ice, but Savard makes a big block, and the shorthanded Canadians are able to maintain a shutout. Esposito and Sittler then break in on a 2 on 1, but Espo takes a lazy shot that Astrom steers aside with ease.

Robinson jumps up on forward after the penalty and sets up Mahovlich in front, who misses the goal. The Swedes mount a bit of pressure with about 45 seconds left, but Dionne is able to make a good interception to keep anything from happening.

Savard corrals the puck and slaps it down the ice as the buzzer goes, and Canada takes a 4-0 win. Vachon gets the shutout, a notable feat as it was the first time an NHL goalie got a shutout in an international game.

All individual game events, shot attempt stats and scoring chances stats for teams and individuals can be found here.

Players that stood out for Sweden as being good are obviously Borje Salming and Anders Hedberg. Salming is the heartbeat of Sweden, and he’s out there seemingly all the time. He generates most of their chances, and the ones he doesn’t are usually generated by Hedberg’s speed. When you make guys like Orr, Lafleur, and Barber look slow, you know you’re fast, and Hedberg is. He hovered in the right areas all night, pouncing on loose pucks and exploiting the Canadian defense with his speed.

For Canada, Vachon was obviously solid in net. There were only 10 real scoring chances on him but he made quite a few good saves in the game. He didn’t steal the game for Canada by any means, but he was as good as he needed to be. On defense, everybody was solid. Orr got the most usage. In the first he played exclusively with Potvin, and Robinson rode the pine. But by the midway point of the second period Robinson started to get a lot of even strength minutes with Orr after Potvin crashed into the boards. Potvin played mostly on the special teams after that, and the Lapointe and Savard pairing stayed intact for the most part. Orr and Potvin provided the most offensive punch, with Orr generating quite a few chances, and Potvin making some really good breakout passes, as well as jumping into the slot in the offensive zone a few times. It was Savard and Lapointe that were the really solid guys for Canada though. They didn’t get much time on the PK or PP compared to Orr and Potvin, but at even strength they held Sweden to almost nothing. Savard was on for 1 even strength scoring chance against, and Lapointe only 2. Orr was on for 5 and Potvin 3. Nothing in particular stood out about Lapointe and Savard, they just played really calm, cool, and collected, barely making any mistakes. Lapointe showed off his low slap shot once, and Savard jumped into the play off the point once or twice. All in all the defense was dependable, and, with Orr’s occasional attacks, dynamic at times. On forward, the Sittler, McDonald, and Gainey/Barber line was the best. They scored two of the goals (both by Gainey), and McDonald (9/11) and Sittler (8/10), dominated the even strength scoring chances. Sittler and Barber were both also good on the penalty kill, showing their versatility. The McDonald and Sittler duo got more ice as the game wore on, and was easily the most trustworthy unit for Canada. Meanwhile, the Shutt, Lafleur, and Mahovlich line was the opposite. Their usage went downhill as the game went on, especially after Lafleur’s ten minute misconduct. Mahovlich made a nice pass to Dionne that resulted in a goal, and Shutt was aggressive on the forecheck, but all in all this line failed to impress, and was matched to a stalemate by the Swedes at even strength. The Hull, Esposito, and Dionne line was much better than they were against the USA. Hull certainly found his legs, and his aggressive forecheck and good rushing generated a few chances. His goal was a bit lucky, but all in all, this line dominated the play when they were on the ice. Esposito was the clear weak link, looking slow and sluggish on the ice, his only notable moments being some quick shot attempts from awkward angles. Dionne was the clear best player on this line, and he finished the night with a goal and an assist and a 21 to 7 advantage in shot attempts. He was calm and patient with the puck, made good passes, and got into open space well, opening up plays for the team. He wasn’t as dynamic as some of the other players, but he quietly got the job done, and got it done well. Perreault, the star of the last game, was less impressive. His rushes weren’t as effective against a more well structured Swedish team, and while he did break through once or twice, nothing came of it. Martin, maybe feeling awkward on the right instead of the left, was ineffective, much like Lafleur. Sweden didn’t generate many scoring chances while they were on the ice, but the shot attempts were about even. Their linemates swapped around quite a bit, but for the most part they played with Bob Gainey, at least in the first half. Bobby Clarke didn’t play much even strength, but he was good on the penalty kill for Canada, and certainly not a liability on the ice. Perhaps he was still not fully recovered from his injury, or maybe his lack of playing time didn’t let him get engaged in the game five on five, but nothing he did really stood out in this game.

Next up for Canada is Czechoslovakia, for the first of three eventual matches between the two teams.