In the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, Russia had played five preliminary games in order to set the groupings for the main tournament stage. Russia was the only team that went undefeated (winning against Finland (Moscow), Germany (Landshut), Sweden (Stockholm), USA (Detroit) and tied against Canada (Calgary). The United States, Sweden and Finland games saw the Bure–Fedorov–Mogilny line for the first (and only) time internationally at senior level, which was considered "perhaps the best forward line on earth" at the time. With Pavel Bure injured at the end of the game against the Americans, he was not able to play in the main tournament. One of Fedorov's goals came in the round robin of the tournament in the second period against Canada in Vancouver on a breakaway pass off the boards from defencemen Darius Kasparaitis, where he sprinted to the puck and shot it over the blocker of goaltender Curtis Joseph to tie the game. Fedorov and Mogilny played on the same line but it was Fedorov that led the team in scoring, although Russia would lose in the semi-finals against the United States after defeating Finland 5–0 in the quarter-finals.