“I thought coming in, they were probably the most talented team,” Gretzky said. “The Russian team was better than we were tonight. There’s no excuse about that.”

In the stands, hundreds of Russian fans who chanted “Russ-i-a, Russ-i-a,” the entire game stood and cheered, blew horns and rang cowbells, sensing the first goal might be the winning goal.

The Canadians pressed and pressed for the tying goal, but could never get it. Alex Kovalev scored on another power play with 23 seconds left, immediately after a flurry in which Nabokov made a series of big saves from all angles, one while sliding on his stomach.

Russia and Canada have been hockey’s biggest rivals since the famed 1972 Summit Series won by Canada, when Russia was part of the Soviet Union, but the rivalry has been fairly one-sided in the Olympics, with Russia or the U.S.S.R. winning eight of nine. The teams had not met since Russia — playing under the banner of the Unified Team following the U.S.S.R.’s breakup — won the gold in Albertville in 1992.

There was many big names from the past in the stands Wednesday, including Gretzky, who starred in the 1987 Soviet Union-Canada Summit Series, Russian Federation sports chief Slava Fetisov and Russian general manager Pavel Bure. After Kovalev scored, Fetisov and Bure hugged each other, bouncing up and down.

Julie Jacobson / AP Team Canada's Rick Nash, No. 61,  is followed by Russia's Maxim Sushinsky during the opening period of the men's ice hockey quarterfinal in Turin.  Russia will face the Czech Republic in the semifinals.

By that time, Gretzky was looking devastated. The loss rivaled that 2-1 defeat to the gold medalist Czech Republic in Nagano in 1998, when Gretzky wasn’t chosen for the decisive shootout.

“Maybe this is a little tougher,” Gretzky said. “(But) Is this the end of Canada hockey? No, we’ll be back.”

As it moves on to the semifinals, Kasparaitis said Russia must quickly forget about one of its biggest Olympic victories in years.

“We want to have a gold medal,” Kasparaitis said. “That’s what we want. And when we win that, then we’re going to remember we beat Canada.”

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