Late Finish

New York Ranger Goalie Chuck Rayner threw himself vainly in the direction of a hockey puck he could not quite see. The shot, winged at him from 25 feet away, burst through a melee of players and whirling sticks and into the net. The red light flashed to signify a goal. Thus, a little past midnight one night this week, the Detroit Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup in seven years.

Loyal Red Wing fans had waited all year for the moment, and the 13,000 or so of them in Detroit's Olympia Stadium sent up a great roar. The roar subsided to happy bedlam as Red Wing Team Captain Sid Abel accepted the trophy cup in center ice. Then the Detroit crowd struck up a chant: "We want Howe!"

It was the fans' tribute to young Gordie Howe (22), brilliant wingman on Detroit's high-scoring "production line." He had suffered a severe concussion in the Stanley Cup playoff preliminaries with Toronto four weeks before, and had not been able to play in the final championship series at all. But he was well enough to step out on the ice this week to take a bow, and the fans loved it.

One on the Sidelines. Howe had been one of the reasons for Red Wing success all year. The trio of Howe, veteran Center Sid Abel and Wingman Ted Lindsay had scored more points (215) than any other three men in National League hockey this season. The question was: How could Detroit win the Stanley Cup with one of the trio on the sidelines?

Veteran Joe Carveth, 32, was hauled into the regular lineup, and with Lindsay and Abel playing in their usual style, the Red Wings came from behind to beat Toronto in their half of the cup semifinals, four games to three. Meanwhile the New York Rangers had crushed Montreal, four games to one.

No one had expected the long-punch-less Rangers to get that far. Before they hit their stride in midwinter, they had been in dead-last place in the league. But the Rangers had been tough for Detroit even when they could not seem to beat anybody else (TIME, Jan. 16), had taken five out of twelve decisions from the Red Wings during the season.

One in Overtime. In the Stanley Cup finals, the Rangers won three of the first five games. They needed just one more, but in the sixth game Detroit evened the series. In the payoff game this week, using careful passing plays, the Rangers built up a 2-0 lead, but they could not hold it.

When the third period ended with the teams tied, 3-3, the game went into overtime. At the end of 20 minutes the score was still 3-3. The bedraggled players were given a 15-minute respite, then were called back onto the ice. Detroit, seemingly the fresher, kept most of the play on the Ranger ice. The game ended eight minutes later when Substitute Detroit Wingman Pete Babando shot the puck past Goalie Rayner, to make it 4-3.

Ranger Coach Lynn Patrick had worked wonders with his team, but he saw the end before it came. Said he: "Once the overtime started I figured we were through. The boys just had nothing left."

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