Wings Shade Rangers, 6-5

Mar. 7, 1965 - For an hour and a half tonight, the Detroit Red Wings were in first place in the NHL. Here is a team with nine of its players over 30 years old. Its superstar, Gordie Howe, is 36. Its best defenseman, Bill Gadsby, is 37. And its high scorer, Norm Ullman, is 33.

The Wings were picked for fourth by most people, fifth by others, and no higher than third by anyone not living in Detroit. Tonight, Detroit came from a 4-1 deficit to defeat the hapless Rangers, 6-5, at Madison Square Garden. The loss eliminated New York from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“I never believed the experts,” remarked 39-year-old Ted Lindsay, who has shown that old hockey players with brains are more useful than young hockey players who let their legs do their thinking. “With men like Howe, Delvecchio, Ullman, and Pronovost, how can you say we don’t belong on top?”

How about Ted Lindsay on that list?

“No, no, not Lindsay,” Ted joked. “He’s too damn old.”

“What’s so surprising about us?” Howe asked. “We were shooting for the top when the season began. People said our showing in the playoffs last year [Detroit lost to Toronto in seven games in the Stanley Cup finals] was a fluke, but what right did they have to say that? We’ve shown them how wrong they were. I feel as good tonight as I felt a year ago at this time of the season.”

The Wings trail first-place Chicago by one point, but they have three more games to play than the Hawks. Montreal has slipped into third.

“They’re all working,” Detroit coach Sid Abel said. “They don’t give up.”

A team trailing 4-1 late in the second period might tend to slow up, but apparently not against the New York Rangers. “Every mistake we made, they turned into goals,” said Ranger general manager Emile Francis.

Perhaps that kind of thing wouldn’t happen if the Rangers had a leader on the ice. Even two-thirds of Gordie Howe would do.

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