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1985–86 Pittsburgh Penguins
1985–86 Pittsburgh Penguins
Division	5th Patrick
Conference	10th Wales
1985–86 record	34–38–8
Goals for	313
Goals against	305
Team information
General manager	Eddie Johnston
Coach	Bob Berry
Captain	Mike Bullard
Alternate captains	Moe Mantha; Terry Ruskowski
Arena	Pittsburgh Civic Arena
Team leaders
Goals	Mario Lemieux (48)
Assists	Mario Lemieux (93)
Points	Mario Lemieux (141)
Penalty minutes	Dan Frawley (174)
Wins	Roberto Romano (21)
Goals against average	Roberto Romano (3.55)
	← 1984–85 1986–87 →

The 1985–86 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the Penguins' 19th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Penguins did not qualify for the playoffs.

Offseason

Regular season

Final standings

Patrick Division
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Philadelphia Flyers	80	53	23	4	335	241	110
Washington Capitals	80	50	23	7	315	272	107
New York Islanders	80	39	29	12	327	284	90
New York Rangers	80	36	38	6	280	276	78
Pittsburgh Penguins	80	34	38	8	313	305	76
New Jersey Devils	80	28	49	3	300	374	59

^[1]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.

Record vs. opponents

Patrick Division record vs. opponents

Vs. Wales Conference

Vs. Patrick Division

1985–86 NHL records^[2]
Team	NJD	NYI	NYR	PHI	PIT	WSH	Total
New Jersey	—	2−5	2−5	3−4	2−4−1	1−6	10−24−1
N.Y. Islanders	5−2	—	3−3−1	4−3	5−1−1	3−4	20−13−2
N.Y. Rangers	5−2	3−3−1	—	1−6	2−4−1	3−3−1	14−18−3
Philadelphia	4−3	3−4	6−1	—	6−0−1	5−2	24−10−1
Pittsburgh	4−2−1	1−5−1	4−2−1	0–6−1	—	1−6	10−21−4
Washington	6−1	4−3	3−3−1	2–5	6−1	—	21−13−1

Vs. Adams Division

1985–86 NHL records
Team	BOS	BUF	HFD	MTL	QUE	Total
New Jersey	0−3	1−2	1−2	1−2	2−1	5−10−0
N.Y. Islanders	1−0−2	1−2	2−1	1−2	1−2	6−7−2
N.Y. Rangers	2−1	0−3	1−2	2−0−1	0−2−1	5−8−2
Philadelphia	2−1	1−2	3−0	2−1	1−1−1	9−5−1
Pittsburgh	1−2	2−0−1	1−2	0−2−1	1−1−1	5−7−3
Washington	2−0−1	1−1−1	2−0−1	2−0−1	3−0	10−1−4

Vs. Campbell Conference

Vs. Norris Division

1985–86 NHL records
Team	CHI	DET	MIN	STL	TOR	Total
New Jersey	2−1	2−0−1	1−2	1−2	1−2	7−7−1
N.Y. Islanders	0−2−1	3−0	0−2−1	1−1−1	3−0	7−5−3
N.Y. Rangers	0−3	3−0	1−2	1−1−1	2−1	7−7−1
Philadelphia	2−0−1	2−1	2−0−1	2−1	2−1	10−3−2
Pittsburgh	1−1−1	2−1	3−0	2−1	3−0	11−3−1
Washington	2−1	2−1	2−1	3−0	2−1	11−4−0

Vs. Smythe Division

1985–86 NHL records
Team	CGY	EDM	LAK	VAN	WIN	Total
New Jersey	0−2−1	0−3	2−1	2−1	2−1	6−8−1
N.Y. Islanders	1−1−1	0−1−2	2−1	1−1−1	2−0−1	6−4−5
N.Y. Rangers	1−2	2−1	2−1	3−0	2−1	10−5−0
Philadelphia	2−1	1−2	3−0	2−1	2−1	10−5−0
Pittsburgh	1−2	1−2	2−1	2−1	2−1	8−7−0
Washington	0−3	3−0	2−1	2−0−1	1−1−1	8−5−2

Schedule and results

1985–86 Schedule

October: 3–5–2 (home: 2–3–1; road: 1–2–1), 8 Points

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
1	Oct 10	Montreal Canadiens	5–3	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	0–1–0	0
2	Oct 12	Philadelphia Flyers	4–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	0–2–0	0
3	Oct 15	Minnesota North Stars	2–3	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	1–2–0	2
4	Oct 16	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–5 OT	Chicago Black Hawks	Chicago Stadium	1–2–1	3
5	Oct 19	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–4	Quebec Nordiques	Quebec Coliseum	1–3–1	3
6	Oct 23	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–4	Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	2–3–1	5
7	Oct 24	Toronto Maple Leafs	4–6	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	3–3–1	7
8	Oct 26	Quebec Nordiques	4–4 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	3–3–2	8
9	Oct 29	Hartford Whalers	4–3	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	3–4–2	8
10	Oct 30	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–6	Detroit Red Wings	Joe Louis Arena	3–5–2	8

November: 5–7–1 (home: 4–3–0; road: 1–4–1), 11 Points

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
11	Nov 2	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–4 OT	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	3–5–3	9
12	Nov 4	New York Rangers	4–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	3–6–3	9
13	Nov 6	Washington Capitals	4–1	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	3–7–3	9
14	Nov 8	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–5	New Jersey Devils	Izod Center	3–8–3	9
15	Nov 9	Chicago Black Hawks	1–3	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	4–8–3	11
16	Nov 13	Pittsburgh Penguins	6–3	Vancouver Canucks	Pacific Coliseum	5–8–3	13
17	Nov 16	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–4 OT	Los Angeles Kings	The Forum	5–9–3	13
18	Nov 19	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–4	Washington Capitals	Capital Centre	5–10–3	13
19	Nov 20	Washington Capitals	3–1	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	5–11–3	13
20	Nov 22	Winnipeg Jets	1–8	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	6–11–3	15
21	Nov 24	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–7	Philadelphia Flyers	The Spectrum	6–12–3	15
22	Nov 27	Toronto Maple Leafs	1–7	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	7–12–3	17
23	Nov 30	New York Rangers	4–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	8–12–3	19

December: 8–6–1 (home: 3–3–1; road: 5–3–0), 17 Points

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
24	Dec 2	Pittsburgh Penguins	6–0	New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden (IV)	9–12–3	21
25	Dec 4	Detroit Red Wings	2–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	10–12–3	23
26	Dec 6	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–1	Buffalo Sabres	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium	11–12–3	25
27	Dec 7	New Jersey Devils	5–1	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	11–13–3	25
28	Dec 10	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–7	New York Islanders	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	11–14–3	25
29	Dec 11	New York Islanders	4–4 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	11–14–4	26
30	Dec 14	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–5	Hartford Whalers	XL Center	11–15–4	26
31	Dec 15	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–2	New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden (IV)	12–15–4	28
32	Dec 17	Calgary Flames	3–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	13–15–4	30
33	Dec 19	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–3 OT	Minnesota North Stars	Met Center	14–15–4	32
34	Dec 21	Philadelphia Flyers	4–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	14–16–4	32
35	Dec 22	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–3 OT	Philadelphia Flyers	The Spectrum	14–17–4	32
36	Dec 26	Boston Bruins	3–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	15–17–4	34
37	Dec 28	New York Islanders	4–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	15–18–4	34
38	Dec 31	Pittsburgh Penguins	8–4	St. Louis Blues	The Checkerdome	16–18–4	36

January: 7–4–2 (home: 4–0–2; road: 3–4–0), 16 Points

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
39	Jan 1	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–7	Chicago Black Hawks	Chicago Stadium	16–19–4	36
40	Jan 6	New Jersey Devils	3–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	17–19–4	38
41	Jan 8	Los Angeles Kings	3–7	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	18–19–4	40
42	Jan 9	Pittsburgh Penguins	0–9	New York Islanders	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	18–20–4	40
43	Jan 11	Buffalo Sabres	3–3 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	18–20–5	41
44	Jan 15	New York Islanders	3–6	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	19–20–5	43
45	Jan 18	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–2	St. Louis Blues	The Checkerdome	20–20–5	45
46	Jan 19	Minnesota North Stars	2–3	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	21–20–5	47
47	Jan 22	Pittsburgh Penguins	7–4	Edmonton Oilers	Northlands Coliseum	22–20–5	49
48	Jan 24	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–4	Vancouver Canucks	Pacific Coliseum	22–21–5	49
49	Jan 25	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–5	Calgary Flames	Scotiabank Saddledome	22–22–5	49
50	Jan 28	Philadelphia Flyers	2–2 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	22–22–6	50
51	Jan 29	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–1	New Jersey Devils	Izod Center	23–22–6	52

February: 7–4–1 (home: 6–1–0; road: 1–3–1), 15 Points

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
52	Feb 1	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–4	New York Islanders	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	23–23–6	52
53	Feb 2	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–3	Boston Bruins	Boston Garden	23–24–6	52
54	Feb 8	New Jersey Devils	0–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	24–24–6	54
55	Feb 12	Washington Capitals	1–8	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	25–24–6	56
56	Feb 15	Vancouver Canucks	4–9	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	26–24–6	58
57	Feb 16	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–5 OT	New Jersey Devils	Izod Center	26–24–7	59
58	Feb 19	Winnipeg Jets	2–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	27–24–7	61
59	Feb 21	Pittsburgh Penguins	7–3	Detroit Red Wings	Joe Louis Arena	28–24–7	63
60	Feb 22	St. Louis Blues	5–3	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	28–25–7	63
61	Feb 24	Los Angeles Kings	5–6 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	29–25–7	65
62	Feb 26	Buffalo Sabres	2–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	30–25–7	67
63	Feb 27	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–8	New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden (IV)	30–26–7	67

March: 3–9–1 (home: 1–3–1; road: 2–6–0), 7 Points

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
64	Mar 1	Hartford Whalers	1–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	31–26–7	69
65	Mar 4	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–6	Calgary Flames	Scotiabank Saddledome	31–27–7	69
66	Mar 7	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–5	Edmonton Oilers	Northlands Coliseum	31–28–7	69
67	Mar 9	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–5	Winnipeg Jets	Winnipeg Arena	31–29–7	69
68	Mar 11	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–5	Washington Capitals	Capital Centre	31–30–7	69
69	Mar 12	Boston Bruins	5–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	31–31–7	69
70	Mar 15	New York Rangers	2–2 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	31–31–8	70
71	Mar 17	Washington Capitals	5–3	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	31–32–8	70
72	Mar 19	Pittsburgh Penguins	7–3	New Jersey Devils	Izod Center	32–32–8	72
73	Mar 20	Pittsburgh Penguins	1–5	Philadelphia Flyers	The Spectrum	32–33–8	72
74	Mar 22	Pittsburgh Penguins	7–4	Quebec Nordiques	Quebec Coliseum	33–33–8	74
75	Mar 26	Edmonton Oilers	8–3	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	33–34–8	74
76	Mar 29	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–4	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	33–35–8	74

April: 1–3–0 (home: 0–2–0; road: 1–1–0), 2 Points

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
77	Apr 1	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–5	Washington Capitals	Capital Centre	33–36–8	74
78	Apr 2	New York Islanders	7–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	33–37–8	74
79	Apr 5	Philadelphia Flyers	4–3 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	33–38–8	74
80	Apr 6	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–4 OT	New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden (IV)	34–38–8	76

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie

Playoffs

The Penguins failed to make the playoffs again for the fourth straight year, two points behind the fourth place Rangers for the final spot from the Patrick Division.

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season^[3]
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Mario Lemieux	79	48	93	141	–6	43
Mike Bullard	77	41	42	83	–16	69
Moe Mantha Jr.	78	15	52	67	–4	102
Doug Shedden^‡	67	32	34	66	–7	32
Terry Ruskowski	73	26	37	63	10	162
Randy Cunneyworth	75	15	30	45	12	74
John Chabot	77	14	31	45	–1	6
Doug Bodger	79	4	33	37	3	63
Dave Hannan	75	17	18	35	–4	91
Willy Lindström	71	14	17	31	0	30
Norm Schmidt	66	15	14	29	7	57
Mike Blaisdell	66	15	14	29	15	36
Jim Johnson	80	3	26	29	12	115
Craig Simpson	76	11	17	28	1	49
Dan Frawley	69	10	11	21	–19	174
Bob Errey	37	11	6	17	1	8
Ron Duguay^†	13	6	7	13	–14	6
Troy Loney	47	3	9	12	–8	95
Ville Sirén	60	4	8	12	–8	32
Rod Buskas	72	2	7	9	–9	159
Jim McGeough	17	3	2	5	–4	8
Tom O'Regan	9	1	2	3	1	2
Chris Dahlquist	5	1	2	3	1	2
Randy Hillier	28	0	3	3	–3	53
Ted Nolan	18	1	1	2	–1	34
Dwight Mathiasen	4	1	0	1	–4	2
Todd Charlesworth	2	0	1	1	–1	0
Joe McDonnell	3	0	0	0	–3	2
Tom Roulston	5	0	0	0	–2	2
Wayne Babych^‡	2	0	0	0	–1	0
Mike Rowe	3	0	0	0	–1	4
Phil Bourque	4	0	0	0	–2	2
Total		313	517	830	—	1,514

Goaltenders

Regular Season^[4]
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
Roberto Romano	46	2684:00	21	20	3	159	3.55	1394	0.886	2
Gilles Meloche	34	1989:00	13	15	5	119	3.59	1003	0.881	0
Denis Herron	3	180:00	0	3	0	14	4.67	92	0.848	0
Total		4853:00	34	38	8	292	3.61	2489	0.883	2

^†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

Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 70 assists in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 7–3 win over Detroit on February 21.
Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 80 assists and also 120 points in a season for the Penguins. He did so with the same assist in a 5–1 win over Hartford on March 1.
Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 130 points in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 7–3 win over New Jersey on March 19.
Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 90 assists in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 3–8 loss to with Edmonton on March 26.
Mario Lemieux became the first person to score 140 points in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 5–4 win over New York on April 6.
Mario Lemieux established a new franchise record for assists (94) and points (141) in a season. He topped the previous highs of 111 points (Pierre Larouche, 1976) and 67 assists (Syl Apps Jr. 1976 and Randy Carlyle 1981).

Transactions

The Penguins were involved in the following transactions during the 1985–86 season:

Trades

September 10, 1985	To Edmonton Oilers Tim Hrynewich Marty McSorley future considerations (Craig Muni)	To Pittsburgh Penguins Gilles Meloche
September 10, 1985	To New York Islanders future considerations	To Pittsburgh Penguins Dave Simpson
September 16, 1985	To Buffalo Sabres cash	To Pittsburgh Penguins Ted Nolan
October 4, 1985	To Edmonton Oilers Pat Price	To Pittsburgh Penguins Pat Hughes
October 4, 1985	To Buffalo Sabres Pat Hughes	To Pittsburgh Penguins Randy Cunneyworth Mike Moller
October 20, 1985	To Quebec Nordiques Wayne Babych	To Pittsburgh Penguins future considerations
March 11, 1986	To Detroit Red Wings Doug Shedden	To Pittsburgh Penguins Ron Duguay

Additions and subtractions

Additions
Player	Former team	Via
Chris Dahlquist	Lake Superior State Lakers (CCHA)	free agency (1985-05-07)
Jim Johnson	University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (WCHA)	free agency (1985-06-09)
Terry Ruskowski	Los Angeles Kings	free agency (1985-10-03)
Willy Lindstrom	Edmonton Oilers	Waiver Draft (1985-10-07)
Dan Frawley	Chicago Black Hawks	Waiver Draft (1985-10-07)
Mike Blaisdell	New York Rangers	Waiver Draft (1985-10-07)
Dwight Mathiasen	University of Denver Pioneers (WCHA)	free agency (1986-03-31)
Steve Guenette	Guelph Platers (OHL)	free agency (1986-04-06)

Subtractions
Player	New team	Via
Warren Young	Detroit Red Wings	free agency (1985-07-10)
Tim Tookey	Philadelphia Flyers	free agency (1985-07-11)
Kevin McCarthy	Philadelphia Flyers	free agency (1985-07-19)
Arto Javanainen	Assat Pori (SM-liiga)	free agency
Petteri Lehto	TPS Turku (SM-liiga)	free agency
Rod Schutt	Toronto Maple Leafs	free agency (1985-10-03)
Tony Feltrin	New York Rangers	free agency (1985-10-08)

Draft picks

The 1985 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 15, 1985, in Toronto, Ontario.^[5]

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	2	Craig Simpson	Left wing	Canada	Michigan State University (NCAA)
2	23	Lee Giffin	Right wing	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
3	58	Bruce Racine	Goaltender	Canada	Northeastern University (NCAA)
5	86	Steve Gotaas	Center	Canada	Prince Albert Raiders (WHL)
6	107	Kevin Clemens	Left wing	Canada	Regina Pats (WHL)
6	114	Stewart Marston	Defense	Canada	Longueuil Chevaliers (QMJHL)
7	128	Steve Titus	Goaltender	Canada	Cornwall Royals (OHL)
8	149	Paul Stanton	Defense	United States	Catholic Memorial H.S. (Massachusetts)
9	170	Jim Paek	Defense	South Korea	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
10	191	Steve Shaunessy	Defense	United States	Reading H.S. (Massachusetts)
11	212	Doug Greschuk	Defense	Canada	St. Albert Saints (AJHL)
12	233	Gregory Choules	Left wing	Canada	Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QMJHL)