Canadiens1958
Registered User
Regarding these defensive weaknesses of the Soviets it is interesting that Canada/NHL let in clearly more powerplay goals against the Soviets than the Soviets did against Canada/NHL in best-on-best competition between the 1972 Summit Series and the 1987 Canada Cup. Seems like Canada also could have needed some cosmetic attempts to hide the ugly side of their own defensive weaknesses. Before someone jumps down my throat about it I want to point out that this last comment was obviously only sarcastic. However I do think that a very good case can be made for that the Soviet penalty kill actually outperformed the Canadian/NHL penalty kill over a rather large sample of games during the 1972-1987 time frame. This does not mean that the top Soviet penalty killers were superior to the top Canadian penalty killers of that time frame but it is in my opinion a good indication of that the top Soviet penalty killers definitely belonged among the best penalty killers in the world at the time.
Soviets versus Canada/NHL (Summit Series 1972, Canada Cup 1976, Challenge Cup 1979, Canada Cup 1981, Canada Cup 1984, Rendezvous 1987, Canada Cup 1987)
USSR: 8 shorthanded goals forward, 14 powerplay goals against, goal differential -6
Canada/NHL: 1 shorthanded goal forward, 19 powerplay goals against, goal differential -18
And here is the tournament by tournament breakdown.
Summit Series 1972
USSR: 3 shorthanded goals forward, 2 powerplay goals against, goal differential +1
Canada: 1 shorthanded goal forward, 7 powerplay goals against, goal differential -6
Canada Cup 1976 (1 USSR-Canada game)
USSR: 0 shorthanded goals forward, 1 powerplay goal against, goal differential -1
Canada: 0 shorthanded goals forward, 0 powerplay goals against, goal differential 0
Challenge Cup 1979
USSR: 1 shorthanded goals forward, 2 powerplay goals against, goal differential -1
NHL: 0 shorthanded goals forward, 3 powerplay goals against, goal differential -3
Canada Cup 1981 (2 USSR-Canada games)
USSR: 1 shorthanded goal forward, 1 powerplay goals against, goal differential 0
Canada: 0 shorthanded goals forward, 3 powerplay goals against, goal differential -3
Canada Cup 1984 (2 USSR-Canada games)
USSR: 0 shorthanded goals forward, 1 powerplay goal against, goal differential -1
Canada: 0 shorthanded goals forward, 2 powerplay goals against, goal differential -2
Rendezvous 1987
USSR: 0 shorthanded goals forward, 2 powerplay goals against, goal differential -2
NHL: 0 shorthanded goals forward, 1 powerplay goal against, goal differential -1
Canada Cup 1987 (4 USSR-Canada games)
USSR: 3 shorthanded goals forward, 5 powerplay goals against, goal differential -2
Canada: 0 shorthanded goals forward, 3 powerplay goals against, goal differential -3
Know that you have been watching game 1 of the 1965 demi finals Toronto vs Montreal. Penalty filled game. You should have noticed that the Canadiens used dedicated PK units built around 3 and 4 defencemen, rarely a forward. You posted glowingly about Henri Richard but even though his skills were ideal he never played on the PK.
The various other NHL teams had similar approaches with dedicated PK unites, some used star forwards on occassion but never full time.
Regardless of the era, the outstanding PK depth players in the NHL were rarely named as a unit to Team Canada. The Ed Westfall, Dan Marcotte, Craig Ramsey, Don Luce, Bob Gainey, Doug Jarvis, Rejean Houle, Jim Roberts and others. When Gainey was named neither Jarvis, Houle nor Roberts were included.
Fact remains that Canada did a better job at their objectives killing penalties - neutralizing the Soviet strength, the PP. 1986-87 NHL, season 80 games, average PPGA 72. Soviets were reduced to a PPGF rate of 60, while Canada scored at a PPGF rate of 100 over an 80 game schedule. Canada never played with a regular 5 man PP like an NHL team would so short term errors were expected and exploited. Par for the course since the NHL was not going to allow the concentration of stars on one team to create the equivalent of the Green Unit.
Basic issue remains why the Soviets never had dedicated PK unit specialists. Benefits are obvious.
Regular lines are not disrupted - example on the PK one of the KLM unit would have to sit, post PK you could not play the unit until the two from the PK were rested.
Soviets never had shot blocking specialist challenging the point shooters like the Canadiens did in 1965 - evident on the video with Talbot and Roberts(#17 and 26) two depth defencemen, who knew the correct way to block shots. Why risk shot blocking injuries to star forwards like Beliveau, Richard, etc.? Since Talbot and Roberts were defencemen they could also drop back if needed. With this approach Canadiens had the best PK almost annually. Also scored the fewest PK goals every year but the objective was killing the penalty. Also post PK the top lines were complete and fully rested. Blake could play his choice of three lines. Soviet coach could not. Soviets could be forced into a scrambled lines situation or sit your stars situation.