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Between December 28, 1975 and January 11, 1976, two Soviet teams played four games each against the eight best teams the NHL had to offer. The 1972 Summit Series between the Soviet National Team and Team Canada had been so popular, the NHL set up nine Super Series with the Soviet teams. The 1975-76 Super Series was the first time the two leagues met, and the Soviet teams fared better overall.

On Christmas Eve, the reigning Soviet champions, HC CSKA Moscow (“The Red Army Club”) and Krylya Sovetov Moscow (“Soviet Wings”) arrived at the Montreal Forum and gave interviews before the series began. As described by the New York Times, “The Soviet players made their first formal public appearance . . . Dressed with a bit more taste than the typical N.H.L. player and with less expense, the Soviet team members also comported themselves in conservative fashion at first, acknowledging greetings from the press and Canadian hockey dignitaries with nods and firm handshakes, but nary a smile. They all requested Coca Cola at the bar and then sat stoically at circular tables enduring the stares of their, hosts and the glare of television lights.” The Soviets were given new skates and sweaters, and a Madison Square Garden employee had to sew the names on the jerseys for the Red Army team prior to their first game.

Of the eight games in the Super Series, four stood out: the first game, the New Year’s Eve tie, and the only two games won by NHL teams.

For the first game, on December 28, the Soviet Red Army played the New York Rangers before a sold out crowd of at least 17,000. The Rangers scored first. As Phil Esposito said, “We came out in the first four minutes (flying) and they waited to see what was going to happen. We absolutely dazzled them.” Then, the Soviets scored three goals in the first period, another three in the second, and finally one more in the third. In writing about the game for the New York Daily News, Wes Gaffer praised, “The Russians aren’t coached. They’re choreographed, whirling in elaborate circular patterns that utterly confused the Rangers and made the annual ice show a superfluous offering at the Garden.” Although two members of the Jewish Defense League were caught and arrested for “throwing eggs on the ice” near him, Soviet Army goalie Vladislav Tretiak had “lightning quick reflexes and X-ray eyes.” He only let in two more Rangers’ goals late in the third, having made 38 saves (compared to John Davidson who only made 22). The Soviet Red Army won 7-3 in their opening game. The next day, the Soviet Wings defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins by nearly the same score, 7-4.

Many hockey fans consider the Soviet Red Army’s 3-3 tie with the Montreal Canadiens on December 31 as one of the greatest hockey games. Almost 19,000 spectators came in person and many more watched the televised game. Despite the tie score, the Canadiens had outshot Red Army 38-13. All of the Montreal Gazette writers put the end result down to the goalies. The first star of the game was goalie Vladislav Tretiak, who seemed “on the verge of tears, [as] he stood at centre ice to acknowledge a standing ovation,” the first “ever given a Russian hockey player by a Canadian crowd.” On the other hand, the Canadiens defense was so good that Ken Dryden was left too little to do. Coach Scotty Bowman estimated that his Canadiens “had the puck 60 to 70 per cent of the game,” and he may have been right considering the Red Army did not get their first shot on goal until 10:03 of the first period. Of his disappointing save percentage, Dryden said, “It’s very upsetting to me. Here we played as well as we could and we came out only with a tie.” By and large, though, all Canadiens interviewed seemed to be unimpressed with the Soviets and felt they had played the better game overall. For example, Steve Shutt (who scored the first goal) commented, “We had fun out there. We beat them. Maybe not on the score but we beat them. We outplayed them for 60 minutes.” Coach Bowman added, “I don’t think we learned anything from them but I think they learned something from us. . . . They were outclassed for 60 minutes except for the goaltending. . . . We outplayed them and that’s what’s important.” Red Army coach Konstantin Loktev admitted, “Most of our problems came as a result of Montreal’s style of play. Their checking was very effective, they played their positions well and they worked very hard. Montreal played a very fine hockey game.”

The next game in the Super Series took place on January 4 between the Soviet Wings and the Buffalo Sabres, who had lost the Stanley Cup finals in 1975. That night, the Sabres became the first NHL team to defeat a Soviet team and the only NHL team that series to defeat the Soviet Wings. As if that was not enough, it was the worst loss a Soviet team ever faced in international competition. The Sabres won 12-6. Punch Imlach, general manager of the Sabres, considered this the “all-time high point for the Sabres” and of his career. The pride in the victory was so great, Montreal gave the Sabres a standing ovation at their next game. The Soviet Wings did not let the defeat get them down as they went on to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on January 7 and the New York Islanders 2-1 on January 10.

Meanwhile, the Red Army had a break after their tie until January 8, when they defeated the Boston Bruins 5-2. Finally, on January 11, they played the Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers for the final game of the Super Series. Before the game, Flyer captain Bobby Clarke joked, “They’re always trying to play with our minds. But that won’t work with our club. We’ve got 20 guys with no brains.” The Flyers were known as the Broad Street Bullies for a reason, and they relied on checking to hold off the Soviets. After a particularly rough hit that the referees ruled legal, the Red Army team left the ice in protest. When they finally returned 16 minutes later, the referee called a delay of game penalty on them. The Flyers scored 17 seconds into the power play and then again before the first period had ended. In the second period, they turned a penalty kill to their advantage and scored a shorthanded goal. Although the Soviets scored mid-way through the period, the Flyers came back with a final goal in the third. The Flyers won 4-1 after outshooting Red Army 49-13. Dave Anderson wrote for the New York Times that “the Flyers’ victory was a triumph of terror over style.” Coach Fred Shero said, “We beat the hell out of a machine.”

Overall, the two Soviet teams fared better than the NHL teams. The Red Army team had a record of 2-1-1 while the Soviet Wings topped that with a 3-1-0 record. The former had been the U.S.S.R. national champion in 19 of 29 seasons, while the latter had been their runner-up in 1975. Despite their winning record, some North Americans pointed out that because the Flyers, Sabres, and Canadiens had played so well against the Soviets, it proved that the NHL’s top teams could hold their own. The Flyers had defeated the Sabres for the Stanley Cup in 1975 and then were the runner-up to the Canadiens in 1976. After the Super Series ended January 11, 1976, the NHL and the Soviet teams met in eight more Super Series.

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