After a 2 week hiatus, the series resumed in Moscow with the Russians up 2-1-1. Team Canada needed to win 3 games in Moscow to take the series which looked next to impossible after only winning 1 game in Canada.
Approximately 3,000 Canadian fans made the trip to Moscow. They cheered and partied so enthusiastically that the usually calm and collected Russian spectators seemed to be taken aback by the Canadians' behaviour. The Russian crowd was pretty quiet, as it turns out they weren't the usual Russian hockey crowd but Soviet government officials who knew nothing about hockey.
Thirteen days separated Games 4 and 5. Canada prepared for the Moscow leg of the trip in Sweden where they would get used to the large ice surface by playing a couple of rough exhibition games.There was a 9 hour difference for the games in Moscow so start times were 11 am which became a challenge for millions of hockey fans who worked or went to school and had become so caught up in the series. I was an undergraduate at the University of Toronto and game 5 was in a Friday and since I had no classes I watched the game at home.
Before the puck drop however there were some long pre-game ceremonies to go through. During the player introductions, Phil Esposito immediately made himself a crowd favorite in Russia as he slipped on the ice when he was introduced. The crowd chuckled while the blushing Esposito got up and bowed to the crowd with a huge smile on his face. That was just one of many memorable moments to come in Moscow.
Team Canada opened game 5 by playing the best first 40 minutes that they had played yet. They built a 3-0 lead, and were dominating the game. Jean-Paul Parise opened the scoring in the 1st period, making him the first Canadian professional to score a goal in Russia.Paul Henderson was the star of this game. Already with one goal, he would crash heavily into the boards and lay motionless for sometime. He suffered a concussion, but refused to listen to doctor's advice and even the team's advice to sit for the rest of the game. He came back and scored on his very next shift. That goal gave Canada a commanding 4-1 lead in the third period.
Team Canada just seemed to stop skating in the third period and the Russians capitalized. It was just as if they flicked on a switch. Five third period goals on 11 shots had unthinkably given the Russians the 5-4 win. Paul Henderson was the game MVP for Canada with 2 goals and for Russia it was Alexander Yakushev.
The Russians had Team Canada backed into a corner. With a 3-1-1 lead, it now seemed next to impossible for Canada to win. Canada had played its best game and still lost and was left with an undaunting task of winning the final 3 games. Fortunately the tides had turned. Team Soviet became complacent and arrogant. Canada was ready to fight back, and were coming together just at the right time.
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