Start date 1987 Number of games 80 | Number of teams 21 | |
Duration October 8, 1987 – May 26, 1988 Similar | ||
The 1987–88 NHL season was the 71st season of the National Hockey League. It was an 80 game season with the top four teams in each division advancing to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This season would see the Edmonton Oilers win their fourth Stanley Cup in five years by sweeping the Boston Bruins 4–0 in the Stanley Cup Final. In the process of their cup win, Edmonton lost only two games, a record for the "16 wins" playoff format.
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League business
The NHL introduced a new trophy, the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which was to be awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution in his community.
Regular season
This was Wayne Gretzky's final season with the Edmonton Oilers and, as injuries held him out of 20% of the season, this would be the only season of the decade in which he was not the winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy and the first season since 1979-80 that he didn't hold or share the league lead in points. Mario Lemieux would capture his first Hart Trophy and lead the league in scoring.
On 7 December, Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers became the first goalie to directly score a goal, shooting the puck into the open net.
On 19 December, the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins combined to score two goals in two seconds. The Bruins were trailing 6-4 in the third period when Ken Linseman scored with 10 seconds remaining, followed by Blues center Doug Gilmour scored off the resulting faceoff into an open net.
The New Jersey Devils qualify for the playoffs for the first time, as the Devils.
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.
Stanley Cup Finals
Game four is well known for fog that interfered with the game, and a power outage that caused the game to be cancelled at 16:37 of the second period with the score tied 3–3.
When the Oilers won the replayed Game four (now reclassified as Game five) for the title, they started the tradition in which the title-winning team gathers around with the Cup in a team photo.
Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes, PPG = Powerplay Goals, SHG = Shorthanded Goals, GWG = Game Winning Goals
Source: NHL.
Leading goaltenders
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage
Source: Quanthockey.com
Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1987–88:
Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1987–88: