Girish Mahajan (Editor)

1988–89 Pittsburgh Penguins season

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Division
  
2nd Patrick

1988–89 record
  
40–33–7

Road record
  
16–20–4

Conference
  
4th Wales

Home record
  
24–13–3

Goals for
  
347

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.

Contents

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

    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

    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
    Goaltenders

    †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, Club Record, Most Assists in One Season (114)
  • Mario Lemieux, Club Record, Most Points in One Season (199)
  • Mario Lemieux, NHL Record, Most Shorthanded Goals, One Season (13)

    • Draft picks

    Pittsburgh Penguins' picks at the 1988 NHL Entry Draft.

    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

    1988–89 Pittsburgh Penguins season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA