The 1976 Canada Cup final was a best-of-three series. The first game was played September 13 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Czechoslovaks started Dzurilla in goal after his brilliant display against Canada in the round robin. Dzurilla was unable to duplicate his success as Gilbert Perreault opened the scoring one minute into the game en route to a four-goal onslaught by the Canadians in the first period. The Czechoslovaks were stronger in the final 40 minutes, but were unable to beat Canada's Vachon, who recorded his second shutout of the tournament in a 6–0 victory for Canada. During the game, the Czechoslovaks were angered when Canada's Steve Shutt crosschecked Jiří Novák from behind. Novak suffered a concussion and was unable to play the remainder of the series. Shutt, a skill player of smaller stature, was apologetic after the game, claiming he had not intended to hit his opponent in the fashion he did.