Anatoli Firsov- A video study

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Brilliant moves from Firsov before scoring.

Firsov makes a very nice move past Oldrich Machac on a counterattack.

 

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Here Firsov shows his great skating again after a nice play by Maltsev.

Nice moves to create a scoring chance.

 

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Making rushes with the puck to gain the zone was also something that Firsov was responisble for on the powerplay.

Good example of this here. Good rush showing both his skating and a nice move to gain the zone.

Here we can again see what a great skater Firsov was. Gains the zone with ease.

Firsov moves past 2 opponents to gain the zone.

 

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Again a nice play by Firsov to gain the zone.


This time Firsov just uses his skating to make the boxplay unit back off and gains the zone with a pass to Maltsev.

 

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So if we continue with his role on the powerplay it should be noted that Firsov played two different positions on the powerplay during these games. The first one as a playmaker on the left side along the boards and the second one as the left pointman. These were his main positions but at times he would play at the right boards or at the right point too. Here we have some examples of Firsovs powerplay performances. Starting with the playmaking role along the boards.

Great example of Firsovs play in this position. First he wins the faceoff and then he makes some very nice plays from the playmaking position along the left boards.


Great powerplay shift from Firsov when he makes some good plays from the left boards and then later shifts to the right boards and makes another good play.


Later in the same shift Firsov makes a nice powerplay assist.

 

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First Firsov makes the play to gain the zone then he gets the puck on the left side and sets up some plays.


Firsov makes a great play to setup Polupanov for a good chance.


Very good powerplay shift from Firsov. First he helps the Soviets to gain the zone then he makes some great plays. Especially the off the boards pass to Ragulin at around 41:26. Honken Holmqvist then makes a great save to deny Firsov from scoring.

 

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Firsov fires a shot towards the american net and then he makes some plays.


Firsov wins the faceoff to himself, turns in the corner and sets up his defenceman.


Another example of Firsovs playmaking from this position.

 

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Lets now move on to some examples of Firsovs play from the point position.

Firsov builds up the attack by finding Kharlamov who can enter the zone. Then Firsov makes a nice pass which Maltsev deflects and the puck hits the crossbar.


Here Firsov makes another nice deflection-pass which Petrov deflects towards the net but Honken makes a good save.

 

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Firsov makes some good plays from the point position.


Firsov fires a rocket of a shot above the net.


Firsov clearly could play very well in both of these positions on the powerplay but I personally prefer him in the position along the boards. He just seemed far more comfortable there and he did create far more scoring opportunities from that position.

 

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As you can see in the powerplay clips Firsov was a great playmaker which along with his great goalscoring abilities made him a very well-balanced offensive force. Here we have some more examples of Firsovs passing/playmaking.

Lets start with this nice assist. Firsov first beats Machac and then finds Polupanov in the slot.


Really great play by Firsov here. Nice flippass on the backhand.


Nice play by Firsov entering the zone and finding Polupanov with a pass.

 

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Another really nice stickhandling and playmaking play from Firsov.


Very nice move and pass to Volkov.

 

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Here we have 3 different behind the back passes from Firsov against Sweden in 1968.

 

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Nice move and pass from Firsov which creates a chance for Viktor Yakushev.


Here Firsov makes two nice passes to create opportunities for first Maltsev and then Vikulov.

 

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A nice little pass to Vikulov.


Nice one touch pass to Polupanov who scores.

 

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One thing that struck me about Firsovs offensive game was how he did not rely that much on his famous shot to create offence. At least based on these games most of Firsovs goals were rather based on great positioning and stickhandling. Here is the available goals in the footage for you to judge yourself.

Here is his brilliant goal against Czechoslovakia in 1967 again.


His goal after protecting the puck against Canada in 1967.


Scores after picking up a rebound against USA in 1968.

 

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Scores another goal against USA in 1968.


Scores against Sweden in 1968.


Scores another goal against Sweden in 1968 on a deflection.

 

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His great shorthanded goal against Canada in 1968.


Scores another goal against Canada in 1968 after some nice stickhandling.


Now Firsov clearly had an absolute rocket of a shot and surely scored a lot of goals thanks to it but at least based on this sample size of footage many of his goals also came as a result of other skills.

 

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In the available footage of Firsov it is obvious that he used his famous skate to stick move relatively often. Here we have some examples.

Here is the example I showed earlier when Firsov does this move while penalty killing.


Great example of this move.

 

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Here Firsov uses this move to get past his opponent in the neutral zone and get the puck in deep.


Another example already shown in the puck possession while penalty killing part. Here Firsov uses this move to keep the puck away from his opponents.

 

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Now it should be noted that a very creative player like Anatoli Firsov of course also made mistakes with the puck. But I personally think that Firsov made very few mistakes when we take into consideration how creative he was as a player. Anyway here is some examples of when Firsov did too much with the puck.

Firsov turns at his own blueline and tries to make his very common pass to the middle of the neutral zone but no one is there.


Here Firsov makes something as rare as two mistakes in a row with the puck.


Here Firsov tries to find Polupanov in the middle as usual but the pass is off target and Nedomansky can counterattack.

 

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While killing time at the end of the game against Czechoslovakia in 1967 Firsov does too much with the puck and loses it.


Here Firsov tries to be too fancy with the puck.


Here Firsov tries to make a move close to the offensive blueline but loses the puck.

 

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Here Firsov makes a blind pass which goes to the wrong adress.


Here Firsov takes two bad decisions on the powerplay. First he shots the puck straight into the blocking player and it leaves the zone. Then he tries to make a cross-ice pass which is off target and the puck leaves the zone again.


Here Firsov tries a spinorama pass which is intercepted.

 

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Here Firsov tries to make a turn with the puck and start a rush but the puck gets stolen from him.

Here Firsov tries to be a bit too fancy in his own zone.

 

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Some final thoughts. During the Top 50 Non-NHL European project here at this site I ranked Firsov third on my list behind Fetisov and Makarov and just ahead of Kharlamov and Tretiak and doing this study has only made my belief that Firsov belongs among these players even stronger. Firsovs ability to find creative solutions with the puck along with his ability to steal pucks from his opponents just made him such a versatile player that could control the game in a impressive way. Which I believe is the main reason why the opponents scored so few goals when Firsov was on the ice. His offensive game was so well-rounded too and he could take on so many roles on the ice (playmaker from a deep position, shooter from the point, hard working player along the boards and puck-carrying dangler) which made him extremly hard to contain for his opponents.

 

[MaxV]

That's really the biggest difference between modern Russian stars and the 60s, 70s and 80s guys.

Those guys were pretty much universally all-around players, top guys included. They had to be, otherwise they wouldn't play.