1988–89 Pittsburgh Penguins season

1988–89 Pittsburgh Penguins
Division	2nd Patrick
Conference	4th Wales
1988–89 record	40–33–7
Home record	24–13–3
Road record	16–20–4
Goals for	347
Goals against	349
Team information
General manager	Tony Esposito
Coach	Gene Ubriaco
Captain	Mario Lemieux
Alternate captains	Paul Coffey Randy Cunneyworth
Arena	Pittsburgh Civic Arena
Team leaders
Goals	Mario Lemieux (85)
Assists	Mario Lemieux (114)
Points	Mario Lemieux (199)
Penalty minutes	Jay Caufield (285)
Wins	Tom Barrasso (18)
Goals against average	Tom Barrasso and Frank Pietrangelo (4.04)

The 1988–89 Pittsburgh Penguins season saw the Penguins finish in second place in the Patrick Division with a record of 40 wins, 33 losses, and 7 ties for 87 points. They swept the New York Rangers in the Division Semi-finals before losing the Division Finals in seven games to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Regular season

This was Mario Lemieux's best season offensively. He led the league in goals (85), assists (114, tied with Wayne Gretzky), points (199), power-play goals (31) and shorthanded goals (13).

The Penguins finished the regular season with the most power-play opportunities against, with 482, the most power-play opportunities, with 491, and the most power-play goals scored, with 119.

Highlights

• December 31, 1988 – Mario Lemieux scores five goals in an 8–6 win over the New Jersey Devils. Lemieux scores the five goals in five different ways: even strength, shorthanded, power play, penalty shot, and empty net.

Season standings

Patrick Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Washington Capitals	80	41	29	10	305	259	92
Pittsburgh Penguins	80	40	33	7	347	349	87
New York Rangers	80	37	35	8	310	307	82
Philadelphia Flyers	80	36	36	8	307	285	80
New Jersey Devils	80	27	41	12	281	325	66
New York Islanders	80	28	47	5	265	325	61

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Schedule and results

On January 4, 1989, the Penguins defeated the Red Army team 4–2 at the Civic Arena in an exhibition. [1]

Playoffs

Main article: 1989 Stanley Cup playoffs

After six frustrating and disappointing seasons, the Penguins finally managed to get into the playoffs for the first time since the 1981–82 season. They swept New York Rangers in the Semifinals, but lost to their rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games.

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Mario Lemieux	76	85	114	199	41	100
Rob Brown	68	49	66	115	27	118
Paul Coffey	75	30	83	113	–10	195
Dan Quinn	79	34	60	94	–37	102
Bob Errey	76	26	32	58	40	124
John Cullen	79	12	37	49	–25	112
Zarley Zalapski	58	12	33	45	9	57
Randy Cunneyworth	70	25	19	44	–22	156
Phil Bourque	80	17	26	43	–22	97
Dave Hannan	72	10	20	30	–12	157
Randy Hillier	68	1	23	24	–4	141
Troy Loney	69	10	6	16	–5	165
Jim Johnson	76	2	14	16	7	163
Kevin Stevens	24	12	3	15	–8	19
Jock Callander	30	6	5	11	–3	20
Steve Dykstra	65	1	6	7	–12	126
Dan Frawley	46	3	4	7	–1	66
Rod Buskas	52	1	5	6	–2	105
Chris Dahlquist	43	1	5	6	–8	42
Jay Caufield	58	1	4	5	–4	285
Doug Bodger‡	10	1	4	5	6	7
Scott Bjugstad	24	3	0	3	–12	4
Gord Dineen†	38	1	2	3	–5	44
Dave McLlwain	24	1	2	3	–11	4
Mark Recchi	15	1	1	2	–2	0
Mark Kachowski	12	1	1	2	1	43
Ville Sirén‡	12	1	0	1	0	14
Perry Ganchar	3	0	0	0	–3	0
Richard Zemlak†	31	0	0	0	–4	135
Total		347	575	922	—	2,601

Playoffs

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Mario Lemieux	11	12	7	19	–1	16
Paul Coffey	11	2	13	15	–7	31
Kevin Stevens	11	3	7	10	–1	16
Dan Quinn	11	6	3	9	–6	10
Zarley Zalapski	11	1	8	9	–2	13
John Cullen	11	3	6	9	4	28
Rob Brown	11	5	3	8	–2	22
Randy Cunneyworth	11	3	5	8	–1	26
Jock Callander	10	2	5	7	6	10
Phil Bourque	11	4	1	5	2	66
Jim Johnson	11	0	5	5	7	44
Troy Loney	11	1	3	4	3	24
Bob Errey	11	1	2	3	1	12
Gord Dineen	11	0	2	2	8	8
Dave Hannan	8	0	1	1	0	4
Dave McLlwain	3	0	1	1	0	0
Randy Hillier	9	0	1	1	–1	49
Jay Caufield	9	0	0	0	–2	28
Rod Buskas	10	0	0	0	–1	23
Richard Zemlak	1	0	0	0	0	10
Steve Dykstra	1	0	0	0	0	2
Chris Dahlquist	2	0	0	0	0	0
Total		43	73	116	—	442

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
Tom Barrasso†	44	2406:21	18	15	7	162	4.04	1441	0.888	0	0	5	49
Wendell Young	22	1150:18	12	9	0	92	4.80	673	0.863	0	0	2	4
Steve Guenette	11	573:53	5	6	0	41	4.29	308	0.867	0	0	1	0
Frank Pietrangelo	15	669:20	5	3	0	45	4.03	408	0.890	0	0	0	2
Rick Tabaracci	1	33:05	0	0	0	4	7.25	21	0.810	0	0	0	2
Total		4832:57	40	33	7	344	4.27	2851	0.879	0	0	8	57

Playoffs

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
Tom Barrasso	11	631:10	7	4	0	40	3.80	388	0.897	0	0	1	8
Wendell Young	1	38:38	0	0	0	1	1.55	11	0.909	0	0	0	0
Total		669:48	7	4	0	41	3.68	399	0.897	0	0	1	8

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Penguins. Stats reflect time with the Penguins only.
^‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Penguins only.

Awards and records

• Paul Coffey, Defence, NHL First All-Star Team
• Mario Lemieux, Center, NHL First All-Star Team
• Mario Lemieux, Art Ross Trophy
• Mario Lemieux, Center, NHL First All-Star Team
• Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 100 assists in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 6–8 loss to Hartford on February 26.
• Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 170 points in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 2–3 loss to Los Angeles on March 7.
• Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 180 points in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 2–8 loss to Boston on March 14.
• Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 110 assists in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 2–7 loss to Minnesota on March 20.
• Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 190 points in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 6–4 win over New York on March 27.
• Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 80 goals in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 5–9 loss to Hartford on March 30.
• Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 400 assists for the Penguins. He did so in a 6–8 loss to Hartford on February 26.
• Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 700 points for the Penguins. He did so in a 4–5 loss to Washington on March 22.
• Mario Lemieux established a new franchise record for goals (85), assists (114) and points (199) in a season. He had set all three records the previous season.
• Mario Lemieux established a new franchise record for assists (415) and points (715). He broke the previous records of 349 assists (Syl Apps Jr.) and 636 points (Rick Kehoe)
• Paul Coffey established a new franchise record for goals (30), assists (83) and points (113) in a season by a defenseman. He broke the records of 16 goals, 67 assists and 83 points all set by Randy Carlyle in 1981.
• Rod Buskas established a new franchise record for penalty minutes (946). He broke the previous records of 871 PIM held by Bryan Watson.
• Mario Lemieux established a new franchise record for highest plus-minus in a season (+41). He broke the previous high of +36 set by Lowell MacDonald in 1973.
• Mario Lemieux, NHL Record, Most Shorthanded Goals, One Season (13)

Transactions

Trades

September 1, 1988	To Philadelphia Flyers 1990 3rd round pick	To Pittsburgh Penguins Wendell Young 1990 7th round pick
October 3, 1988	To Buffalo Sabres Wayne Van Dorp	To Pittsburgh Penguins 1990 7th round pick
November 1, 1988	To Minnesota North Stars rights to Rob Gaudreau	To Pittsburgh Penguins Richard Zemlak
November 12, 1988	To Buffalo Sabres Doug Bodger Darrin Shannon	To Pittsburgh Penguins Tom Barrasso 1990 3rd round pick
December 17, 1988	To Minnesota North Stars Steve Gotaas Ville Siren	To Pittsburgh Penguins Scott Bjugstad Gord Dineen
January 9, 1989	To Calgary Flames Steve Guenette	To Pittsburgh Penguins 1989 6th round pick
March 6, 1989	To Los Angeles Kings Pat Mayer	To Pittsburgh Penguins Tim Tookey

Free agents lost

Date	Player	New team
October 4, 1988	Carl Mokosak	Boston Bruins

Waiver Draft

Date	Player	Former team
October 3, 1988	Jay Caufield	Minnesota North Stars
October 3, 1988	Steve Dykstra Dave Hannan	Edmonton Oilers

Player signings

Player	Date	Contract terms
John Cullen	June 21, 1988	Unknown
Mark Recchi	August 17, 1988	Multi-year contract
Steve Guenette	August 29, 1988	Multi-year contract
Darrin Shannon	September 7, 1988	Multi-year contract
Bruce Racine	September 21, 1988	Multi-year contract
Mario Lemieux	November 1, 1988	1 year/$1.6 million
Dan Quinn	November 5, 1988	Multi-year contract
Jamie Leach	March 22, 1989	Multi-year contract
Dave Michayluk	May 24, 1989	Unknown

Other

Player	Date	Details
Pierre Creamer	June 14, 1988	Replaced as head coach
Gene Ubriaco	June 28, 1988	Hired as head coach
Dave Hunter	October 3, 1988	Sent to Oilers as compensation for claiming Dave Hannan in waiver draft

Roster

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	NHL Draft	Birthplace
35		Tom Barrasso	G	R	24	1983	Boston, Massachusetts
27		Barry Bjugstad	LW	L	27	1981	St. Paul, Minnesota
29		Phil Bourque	LW	L	26	Undrafted	Chelmsford, Massachusetts
44		Robert Brown	RW	L	21	1986	Kingston, Ontario
7		Rod Buskas	D	R	28	1981	Wetaskiwin, Alberta
14		Jock Callander	RW	R	28	Undrafted	Regina, Saskatchewan
16		Jay Caufield	RW	R	28	Undrafted	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
77		Paul Coffey (A)	D	L	27	1980	Weston, Ontario
11		John Cullen	C	R	24	1986	Puslinch, Ontario
15		Randy Cunneyworth (A)	LW	L	28	1980	Etobicoke, Ontario
4		Christopher Dahlquist	D	L	26	Undrafted	Fridley, Minnesota
5		Gordon Dineen	D	R	26	1981	Quebec City, Quebec
22		Steve Dykstra	LW	R	26	Undrafted	Edmonton, Alberta
12		Bob Errey	LW	L	24	1983	Montreal, Quebec
28		William Frawley	RW	R	26	1980	Sturgeon Falls, Ontario
20		Perry Ganchar	RW	R	25	1982	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
30		Steve Guenette	G	L	23	Undrafted	Gloucester, Ontario
32		David Hannan	C	L	27	1981	Sudbury, Ontario
23		Randy Hillier	D	L	29	1980	Toronto, Ontario
6		James Johnson	D	L	26	Undrafted	New Hope, Minnesota
26		Mark Kachowski	LW	L	24	Undrafted	Edmonton, Alberta
66		Mario Lemieux (C)	C	R	23	1984	Montreal, Quebec
24		Troy Loney	LW	L	25	1982	Bow Island, Alberta
19		Dave McLlwain	C	L	21	1986	Seaforth, Ontario
40		Frank Pietrangelo	G	L	24	1983	Niagara Falls, Ontario
10		Dan Quinn	C	L	23	1983	Ottawa, Ontario
8		Mark Recchi	RW	L	21	1988	Kamloops, British Columbia
25		Kevin Stevens	LW	L	24	1983	Brockton, Massachusetts
31		Richard Tabaracci	G	L	20	1987	Toronto, Ontario
1		Wendell Young	G	L	25	1981	Halifax, Nova Scotia
33		Zarley Zalapski	D	L	21	1986	Edmonton, Alberta
18		Richard Zemlak	C	R	26	1981	Wynyard, Saskatchewan

Draft picks

See also: List of Pittsburgh Penguins draft picks

Pittsburgh Penguins' picks at the 1988 NHL Entry Draft.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	4	Darrin Shannon	L	Canada	Windsor Compuware Spitfires (OHL)
2	25	Mark Major	L	Canada	North Bay Centennials (OHL)
3	62[a]	Daniel Gauthier	L	Canada	Victoriaville Tigres (QMJHL)
4	67	Mark Recchi	R	Canada	Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
5	88	Greg Andrusak	D	Canada	U. of Minnesota-Duluth (NCAA)
7	130	Troy Mick	L	Canada	Portland Winter Hawks (WHL)
8	151	Jeffrey Blaeser	L	United States	St. John's Prep (Mass H.S.)
9	172	Robert Gaudreau	C	United States	Bishop Hendricken H.S. (RI)
10	193	Donald Pancoe	L	Canada	Hamilton Steelhawks (OHL)
11	214	Cory Laylin	L	United States	St. Cloud Apollo H.S. (Minn.)
12	235	Darren Stolk	D	Canada	Lethbridge Broncos (WHL)
S	4	Paul Polillo	C	Canada	Western Michigan University (CCHA)
S	9	Shawn Lillie	C	Canada	Colgate University (ECAC)

Draft notes

• The Pittsburgh Penguins' third-round pick went to the Montreal Canadiens as the result of a December 17, 1987, trade that sent Perry Ganchar and future considerations (1988 third-round pick (#62-Daniel Gauthier)) to the Penguins in exchange for a future considerations (this pick).
• ^a The Montreal Canadiens' third-round pick went to the Pittsburgh Penguins as a result of a December 17, 1987, trade that sent future considerations (1988 third-round pick (#46-Neil Carnes)) to the Candiens in exchange for Perry Ganchar and future considerations (this pick).
• The Pittsburgh Penguins' sixth-round pick went to the Los Angeles Kings as the result of a February 4, 1988, trade that sent Bryan Erickson to the Penguins in exchange for Chris Kontos and future considerations (this pick).

References

• Penguins on Hockey Database