1978–79 Detroit Red Wings season

1978–79 Detroit Red Wings
Division	5th Norris
1978–79 record	23–41–16
Goals for	252
Goals against	295
Team information
General Manager	Ted Lindsay
Coach	Bobby Kromm
Captain	Dennis Hextall Nick Libett and Paul Woods
Team leaders
<1977–78	1979–80>

Offseason

Regular season

Final standings

Norris Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Montreal Canadiens	80	52	17	11	337	204	115
Pittsburgh Penguins	80	36	31	13	281	279	85
Los Angeles Kings	80	34	34	12	292	286	80
Washington Capitals	80	24	41	15	273	338	63
Detroit Red Wings	80	23	41	16	252	295	62

^[1]Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points

       Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Game log

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 11, 1978	4–5	St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	0–1–0
2	L	October 14, 1978	1–3	Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	0–2–0
3	W	October 15, 1978	3–2	@ Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	1–2–0
4	T	October 18, 1978	3–3	@ New York Rangers (1978–79)	1–2–1
5	T	October 19, 1978	2–2	New York Rangers (1978–79)	1–2–2
6	T	October 21, 1978	4–4	Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	1–2–3
7	W	October 25, 1978	5–4	Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	2–2–3
8	W	October 27, 1978	5–2	@ Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	3–2–3
9	W	October 28, 1978	7–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	4–2–3
10	L	November 1, 1978	1–4	Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	4–3–3
11	L	November 4, 1978	3–7	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	4–4–3
12	T	November 5, 1978	3–3	@ Washington Capitals (1978–79)	4–4–4
13	L	November 8, 1978	4–6	Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	4–5–4
14	L	November 9, 1978	3–8	@ Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	4–6–4
15	W	November 11, 1978	7–1	Boston Bruins (1978–79)	5–6–4
16	L	November 15, 1978	3–5	@ Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	5–7–4
17	L	November 18, 1978	1–3	Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	5–8–4
18	L	November 19, 1978	3–4	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	5–9–4
19	T	November 22, 1978	3–3	@ Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	5–9–5
20	L	November 25, 1978	0–4	@ St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	5–10–5
21	W	November 26, 1978	4–2	Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	6–10–5
22	T	November 29, 1978	2–2	@ Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	6–10–6
23	L	December 1, 1978	1–2	@ Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	6–11–6
24	L	December 2, 1978	2–5	@ Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	6–12–6
25	T	December 6, 1978	2–2	Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	6–12–7
26	L	December 7, 1978	5–6	@ Boston Bruins (1978–79)	6–13–7
27	W	December 9, 1978	5–4	New York Rangers (1978–79)	7–13–7
28	T	December 10, 1978	3–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	7–13–8
29	T	December 13, 1978	5–5	Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	7–13–9
30	L	December 14, 1978	1–4	@ New York Islanders (1978–79)	7–14–9
31	L	December 16, 1978	2–4	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	7–15–9
32	L	December 17, 1978	0–3	New York Islanders (1978–79)	7–16–9
33	W	December 20, 1978	7–2	Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	8–16–9
34	L	December 22, 1978	2–4	@ New York Rangers (1978–79)	8–17–9
35	T	December 23, 1978	2–2	Washington Capitals (1978–79)	8–17–10
36	T	December 26, 1978	2–2	Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	8–17–11
37	L	December 27, 1978	2–5	Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	8–18–11
38	L	December 30, 1978	1–3	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	8–19–11
39	L	December 31, 1978	4–5	Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	8–20–11
40	L	January 6, 1979	1–4	Washington Capitals (1978–79)	8–21–11
41	L	January 7, 1979	3–4	@ Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	8–22–11
42	T	January 10, 1979	5–5	New York Islanders (1978–79)	8–22–12
43	T	January 11, 1979	3–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	8–22–13
44	L	January 13, 1979	3–7	Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	8–23–13
45	W	January 17, 1979	4–1	Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	9–23–13
46	L	January 19, 1979	1–5	@ Washington Capitals (1978–79)	9–24–13
47	L	January 20, 1979	3–4	Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	9–25–13
48	T	January 25, 1979	6–6	@ Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	9–25–14
49	L	January 27, 1979	3–6	Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	9–26–14
50	L	January 28, 1979	2–7	@ Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	9–27–14
51	W	January 30, 1979	7–4	Washington Capitals (1978–79)	10–27–14
52	L	February 1, 1979	1–6	@ Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	10–28–14
53	L	February 3, 1979	2–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	10–29–14
54	W	February 4, 1979	8–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	11–29–14
55	L	February 14, 1979	2–3	Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	11–30–14
56	W	February 18, 1979	6–2	Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	12–30–14
57	L	February 19, 1979	2–6	Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	12–31–14
58	W	February 21, 1979	4–3	@ Washington Capitals (1978–79)	13–31–14
59	L	February 24, 1979	1–3	@ New York Islanders (1978–79)	13–32–14
60	W	February 25, 1979	8–1	Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	14–32–14
61	L	February 28, 1979	5–6	St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	14–33–14
62	W	March 3, 1979	5–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	15–33–14
63	L	March 4, 1979	4–6	Boston Bruins (1978–79)	15–34–14
64	L	March 7, 1979	1–5	@ Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	15–35–14
65	T	March 11, 1979	3–3	Washington Capitals (1978–79)	15–35–15
66	T	March 12, 1979	3–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	15–35–16
67	W	March 14, 1979	4–1	@ Washington Capitals (1978–79)	16–35–16
68	W	March 17, 1979	3–1	@ St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	17–35–16
69	W	March 18, 1979	4–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	18–35–16
70	W	March 20, 1979	5–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	19–35–16
71	W	March 21, 1979	4–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	20–35–16
72	L	March 24, 1979	2–5	@ Boston Bruins (1978–79)	20–36–16
73	W	March 25, 1979	2–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	21–36–16
74	L	March 27, 1979	2–5	@ Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	21–37–16
75	L	March 28, 1979	1–8	@ Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	21–38–16
76	L	March 31, 1979	4–5	Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	21–39–16
77	W	April 1, 1979	3–1	Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	22–39–16
78	L	April 4, 1979	1–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	22–40–16
79	L	April 7, 1979	3–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	22–41–16
80	W	April 8, 1979	1–0	Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	23–41–16

Playoffs

Player stats

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Nedomansky, VaclavVaclav Nedomansky	RW	80	38	35	73	19	-13	13	0	2
McCourt, DaleDale McCourt	C	79	28	43	71	14	-27	14	2	3
Larson, ReedReed Larson	D	79	18	49	67	169	-20	6	2	0
Thompson, ErrolErrol Thompson	LW	70	23	31	54	26	-28	8	0	3
St. Laurent, AndreAndre St. Laurent	C	76	18	31	49	124	-31	4	1	1
Labraaten, DanDan Labraaten	LW	78	19	19	38	8	-17	7	0	3
Woods, PaulPaul Woods	LW	80	14	23	37	59	-26	1	3	1
Libett, NickNick Libett	LW	68	15	19	34	20	4	3	1	0
Huber, WillieWillie Huber	D	68	7	24	31	114	-25	4	0	2
Bolduc, DanDan Bolduc	LW	56	16	13	29	14	-9	3	0	4
Miller, PerryPerry Miller	D	75	5	23	28	156	-13	3	0	1
Bergman, ThommieThommie Bergman	D	68	10	17	27	64	-25	3	1	1
Polonich, DennisDennis Polonich	C/RW	62	10	12	22	208	-10	1	0	0
Cloutier, RolandRoland Cloutier	C	19	6	6	12	2	0	1	0	1
Hextall, DennisDennis Hextall	LW	20	4	8	12	33	3	2	0	0
LeBlanc, FernFern LeBlanc	C	29	5	6	11	0	1	1	0	0
Lochead, BillBill Lochead	LW	40	4	7	11	20	-4	0	0	0
Carroll, GregGreg Carroll	C	36	2	9	11	8	-6	1	0	0
Hogaboam, BillBill Hogaboam	C	18	4	6	10	4	-5	1	0	1
LeBlanc, J.P.J.P. LeBlanc	C	24	2	6	8	4	-7	2	0	0
Hamel, JeanJean Hamel	D	52	2	4	6	72	-9	0	0	0
Harper, TerryTerry Harper	D	51	0	6	6	58	-3	0	0	0
Joly, GregGreg Joly	D	20	0	4	4	6	-8	0	0	0
Cameron, AlAl Cameron	D	9	0	3	3	8	1	0	0	0
Hilworth, JohnJohn Hilworth	D	37	1	1	2	66	-13	0	0	0
Plumb, RobRob Plumb	LW	7	1	1	2	2	-1	0	0	0
Gloeckner, LorryLorry Gloeckner	D	13	0	2	2	6	-7	0	0	0
Rutherford, JimJim Rutherford	G	32	0	2	2	4	0	0	0	0
Taft, JohnJohn Taft	D	15	0	2	2	4	2	0	0	0
Vachon, RogieRogie Vachon	G	50	0	1	1	21	0	0	0	0
Davis, MalMal Davis	LW	6	0	0	0	0	-2	0	0	0
Hanson, DaveDave Hanson	D	11	0	0	0	26	-1	0	0	0
Peterson, BrentBrent Peterson	C	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Short, SteveSteve Short	LW	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Skaare, BjornBjorn Skaare	C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Rutherford, JimJim Rutherford	1892	32	13	14	5	103	3.27	1
Vachon, RogieRogie Vachon	2908	50	10	27	11	189	3.90	0
Team:	4800	80	23	41	16	292	3.65	1

^[2]

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus-minus PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals;
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Awards and records

Transactions

Roster

Draft picks

• Ladislav Svozil was the first Czechoslovakian player drafted in the history of the NHL Draft. The Red Wings selected Svozil with their 14th pick in the 1978 Draft.^[3]

Farm teams

See also

• 1978–79 NHL season

References

• "1978–79 Detroit Red Wings Games". Hockey-reference.com. http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/DET/1979_games.html. Retrieved 2009-05-06. 

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