BRATISLAVA, Czechoslovakia -- Switzerland struck another blow at the World Hockey Championships Thursday, scoring with 3:55 to go to forge a 1-1 tie with Canada.
The decision comes two days after the Swiss, 10th-place finishers at the Olympics, tied powerful Russia 2-2.
In 72 years of the World Championships, this marked only the second time Canada lost a point to the Swiss, the other time coming 1949 in Stockholm -- a 1-1 tie.
Canada opened the scoring at 17:06 of the second period when New York Islanders Ray Ferraro, Steve Thomas and Derek King combined for the team's lone goal. King whipped a 12-footer past Reto Pavoni on a feed from Thomas.
The Swiss tied it with 3:55 left in the game after killing a high- sticking penalty to Jorg Eberle, who had drawn blood from Rod Brind'amour.
Gil Montandon won a faceoff from Marc Habscheid and sent the puck back to defenseman Dino Kessler. His hard shot eluded the glove of Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ron Hextall.
'Curiously enough, it was that major penalty that got us going,' Swiss center Christian Weber center. 'We killed it off and then were the better team for the remaining seven minutes.'
Said Canada Coach Dave King: 'We had that five-minute power play in which we used the same ten guys. We didn't score, and then fatigue set in.'
In the dying minutes, Hextall passed the puck to a Swiss player but then redeemed himself by stopping successive shots. He also survived a 3-on-1 break by the Swiss with 48 seconds left.
Canada hopes to bolster its roster in the next few days with NHL players, but the only one definitely on the way is Nelson Emerson of the St. Louis Blues.
'We contacted three players from St. Louis and three from Los Angeles, but all the others declined,' King said. The player King hoped for most, Wayne Gretzky, is reportedly injured.
Canada appears desperate for scoring power. The Canadians outshot the Swiss 34 to 25 and had a plus of 17 to 11 quality chances.
'We steered the Canadian attackers to the corners and made sure we barricaded the slot,' Weber said. 'They can be in the corners as long as they want -- they cannot score from there.'
In day's second game, Czechoslovakia blanked France 3-0, with the traditional postgame handshake replaced by fistcuffs. The fighting proceeded despite frantic pleas from Czechoslovakia's coach.
Czechoslovakia defenseman Frantisek Musil, a pickup from the Calgary Flames, and French defenseman Jean-Philippe Lemoine drew match penalties for the fighting. Both received automatic one-game suspensions, meaning Musil will miss Friday's game against Russia.
Czechoslovakia, 2-0, leads Group B, the only team with a perfect record.
