 The move paid off as Phil Esposito scored for Canada after just 30 seconds of play , knocking a puck out of the air behind the Soviets ' goaltender Vladislav Tretiak . But even after a few minutes , Sinden felt the Soviets were coming on and having no difficulty getting through Canada 's defence . Henderson scored after six minutes to give Canada a two @-@ goal lead on a face @-@ off win by Clarke , the only advantage that Team Canada had , in Sinden 's estimation . To Canadian spectators and the media , the second goal gave the appearance that the pre series predictions of a rout had been proven correct . But the Soviets got over any awe of the NHLers and scored two goals to tie the score before the end of the first period . Yevgeni Zimin scored on a pass from behind the net , and Vladimir Petrov scored a short @-@ handed goal on a Soviet two @-@ on @-@ one break , with Petrov potting the rebound . According to Sinden , the Canadian players had lost their poise , " running all over the ice " to establish their hitting game , while the Soviets used an unexpected tactic , that of the long pass , to break a man out of their defensive zone . The Canadian defence was also dropping to the ice to block shots , while the Soviets only skated around the defence to get a good shot . Although Tretiak had given up the two Canada goals on the first two shots , he recovered later in the period to make a couple of critical saves off Esposito at point @-@ blank range . According to Esposito , " at Christmas time , it would have been 4 – 0 for us . " 
