Soviets on Thin NHL Ice : Hockey: The five who took part in the playoffs combined for no goals and a minus-6 rating, sparking grumbling.

Not one of the NHL’s Soviet players made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Also, none of those who participated in the opening playoff series did much to help his team’s cause.

The five who took part--Sergei Makarov and Sergei Priakin of Calgary, Alexei Kasatonov and Viacheslav Fetisov of New Jersey and Alexander Mogilny of Buffalo--combined for no goals, 12 assists and a minus-six rating in 24 playoff games.

That prompted Don Cherry, who once described the Soviets as “money-grubbing Reds,” to claim that the Soviets wanted to lose so they could join their national team for the world championships in Switzerland. Makarov, Kasatonov and Fetisov are playing for the Soviet Union, which was the victim of a major upset by Sweden.

The Soviet players had a difficult time adapting to the NHL, for a number of reasons. The culture had much to do with it, as did the steady diet of tough games in a relentless 80-game schedule.

When some of the Soviets finally got the hang of the regular season, they found themselves thrust into the playoffs, with greater intensity and greater demands. They lacked the ability to raise their game that extra notch.

Igor Dmitriev, assistant coach and chief spokesman for the Soviet national team, indicated that the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation was embarrassed by the players’ poor performances and would hold a camp in Moscow in August to prepare them for next season.

“There were a lot of problems,” Dmitriev told the Toronto Sun. “It wasn’t just new team, new country. The biggest thing was training. I think they were not so prepared for the NHL. You have to understand, they were in training their whole lives. They didn’t have to do anything on their own before.”