Team USA Recalls Past With Victory : Hockey: Despite spotty defense, Americans top Russians, 7-6, in thriller reminiscent of 1980.

Great theater prevailed over great hockey Saturday, transforming a shaky defensive effort by Team USA into a dramatic victory on the same stage that the 1980 U.S. Olympic team played out its gold-medal triumph.

Matt Martin’s 45-foot slap shot with 3:34 to play, set up on a clever pass off the right-wing boards by Jim Campbell, capped a third-period comeback that gave the aspiring 1994 Olympians a 7-6 victory over Team Russia and awakened echoes of 1980. As in that year, the crowd of 5,957 united in spirited chants of “USA! USA!” and the players turned that energy into goals.

“They really helped us a lot,” said Todd Marchant, who won a faceoff in the Russian zone during a five-minute U.S. power play to set up Ted Crowley’s tying goal with 8:40 left. “We were on the bench saying, ‘If the crowd can get into it, why can’t we?’ After we were down, 6-4, a lot of heads were down, but the fans really gave us an uplift.”

Of course, the circumstances were different from those in 1980. This Russian team is more familiar and less fearsome, ranking a notch below the Russian national team, and little was at stake for the winner Saturday besides the right to hear its anthem afterward. Still, the United States (25-10-5) was inspired by the setting and responded well enough for Coach Tim Taylor to momentarily stifle concerns over his team’s lax defensive play.

“I certainly get goose bumps in this building,” Taylor said after his team improved to 2-0 in its seven-game Russian tour. “There are a lot of positive psychological USA vibes in this arena for all of us. . . . It’s a terrific psychological win for us.”

Only a lower-scoring game would have made him happier.

A power-play breakaway by Dmitri Popov gave the Russians a 3-2 lead after one period, but Team USA pulled even on Greg Johnson’s shot from the right side at 1:54 of the second period. The Russians pulled even, 4-4, late in the second period when Popov slipped a close-in shot between Mike Dunham and the left post, and they took a 6-4 lead on Igor Varitski’s rink-length dash and Sergei Tyrtyshny’s wrist shot from the lower edge of the right circle.

Inspired by the crowd and several acrobatic saves by Dunham, the U.S. team closed to 6-5 on a slap shot by 1988 Olympian Peter Laviolette. After Tyrtyshny was assessed a major penalty and ejected for inflicting an 11-stitch cut under defenseman Travis Richards’ left eye, Crowley’s shot from the right point deflected off a Russian defenseman and past Andrei Zuev to tie it. Martin’s goal brought roars from the crowd and a smile from the stern Taylor.

“I think we’re where we want to be, but we need these tests. This was a good test today,” he said.