Jan. 10, 1965 - The Rangers could do little right tonight at Madison Square Garden — and the score properly reflected that fact. Hitting for four second-period goals, the Stanley Cup champion Toronto Maple Leafs trounced New York, 6-0, in an NHL game watched by 14,991.
It should be noted that the Rangers were without two key players tonight, and they are going to be without one, Jim Neilson, for a month. Neilson separated his shoulder last night, and that should have been enough to make goalie Jacques Plante cry. Neilson is the Rangers’ second best defender, and his place tonight was taken by Ron Ingram, who will just never do.
The Rangers also missed Donnie Marshall, who suffered a Charley horse last night. Marshall is hardly the kind of player who is going to carry a team, but he is among the best faceoff men in the league. He also kills penalties and can play all three positions on the front line. He is valuable.
But not as valuable as Vic Hadfield. Vic has been the Rangers’ best man since the beginning of December, and there isn’t a team in the league that wouldn’t trade for him should the Rangers ever be foolish enough to let their only bodychecking forward go.
Hadfield, who is among the hardest shooters in the NHL, was finally used on the point in the Rangers’ power play tonight and will likely be there from now on.
“I hope so,” Vic said. “You just let that thing go as hard as you can, and let it be in front of the net. That’s what we have to do.” Coach Sullivan was relatively calm considering the beating his team had just absorbed. He was also realistic.
“You’re never going to beat Toronto playing like we did,” he said. “Never.”
Toronto had beaten the Rangers only once in seven games, and something like this figured to happen sooner or later.
At least one Ranger was happy enough tonight. Trevor Fahey, who plays for the Rovers of the Eastern Hockey League, was wearing No. 18 because Jim Mikol was grounded by snow in Cleveland, and the Rangers needed a man to replace Marshall.
“Butterflies — lots of butterflies. That’s what I felt,” Fahey said.
Fahey didn’t look quite ready for this league, but then neither did a lot of Rangers.
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