Canada vs Russia
All was again right with the world.
What had happened three nights earlier, when a team of National Hockey League all-stars lost to the best of the Soviet Union 7-3 at the Montreal Forum in the first game of the Summit Series, was for Canadians far more than a mere sports upset. So secure was the belief in national superiority in the national game, that being humiliated by the Russians - who seemed to have somehow re-imagined how hockey could be played - was more like having the sun rise on the other side of the sky.
And so a mere exhibition hockey series was instantly transformed into a contest in which it felt like an entire way of life was on the line.
Game two at Maple Leaf Gardens provided blessed relief, restoring temporarily the old hockey order. Led by a stellar goaltending performance from Tony Esposito, the Canadian pros triumphed 4-1, delivering the comforting (and false) assurance that the result of the first game had been an aberration, a fluke, an off-night when Canada's heroes were simply caught unawares.
"A smasheroo of a hockey game," Milt Dunnell dubbed it in the Toronto Star, writing that the difference in atmosphere between games two and one was "the difference between a wedding and a wake."
The Canadians forechecked and hit the Russians, disrupting their intricate passing, seemingly discovering the key to unlocking the unique Soviet style. The highlight of the game was Peter Mahovlich's brilliant solo shorthanded goal in the second period, which came immediately after the Soviets had narrowed the score to 2-1, and appeared to have seized the momentum.
The series moved on to Winnipeg, Vancouver ... and Moscow, and it would never again prove nearly so easy to Canada as it looked on that happy night at the Gardens.
- Stephen Brunt
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Toronto Plaques. Full page here.