The Soviet and American teams were natural rivals due to decades-old Cold War disputes. In addition, President Jimmy Carter was at the time considering a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, to be held in Moscow, in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which began the year before. Carter eventually decided in favor of the boycott.

On February 9, the two teams met for an exhibition match in order to practice for the upcoming competition. The Soviet Union won 10-3.

In Olympic group play, the United States surprised many observers with their physical, cohesive play, starting with a 2-2 tie against Sweden and followed by a stunning 7-3 victory against a strong team from Czechoslovakia. The U.S. team finished with four wins and one draw to advance to the medal round. In the other group, the Soviets stormed through their opposition undefeated, often by grossly lopsided scores – knocking off Japan 16-0, the Netherlands 17-4, and Poland 8-1 – and easily qualified for the next round. Sweden and Finland also qualified for the medal round.

Down 2-1, Craig improved his play, turning away many Soviet shots before the U.S. team had another shot on goal. (The Soviet team had 39 shots on goal in the game, the Americans only 16.) In the waning seconds of the first period, Dave Christian fired a desperate slap shot on Tretiak. The Soviet goalie saved the shot but misplayed the rebound, and Mark Johnson scooped it past the goaltender to tie the score with one second left in the period. The frustrated Soviet team played the final second of the period with just three players on the ice, as the rest of the team had retired to their dressing room for the first intermission.

Tikhonov replaced Tretiak with backup goaltender Vladimir Myshkin to start the second period, a move which surprised many players on both teams. Fetisov later identified this as the "turning point of the game." The switch seemed to work at first, as Myshkin allowed no goals in the second period. Aleksandr Maltsev scored on a power play to make the score 3-2 for Russia.

Johnson scored again for the U.S., 8:39 into the final period, firing a loose puck past Myshkin to tie the score just as a power play was ending. Only a couple shifts later, Mark Pavelich passed to U.S. captain Mike Eruzione, who was left undefended in the high slot. Eruzione fired a shot past Myshkin, who was screened by his own defenseman. This goal gave the U.S. a 4-3 lead with exactly 10 minutes to play in the contest.