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1987–88 Pittsburgh Penguins
1987–88 Pittsburgh Penguins
Division	6th Patrick
Conference	9th Wales
1987–88 record	36–35–9
Goals for	319
Goals against	316
Team information
General manager	Eddie Johnston
Coach	Pierre Creamer
Captain	Dan Frawley (Oct-Dec) ; Mario Lemieux (Dec-Apr)
Alternate captains	Mario Lemieux (Oct-Dec) ; Dan Frawley (Dec-Apr) ; Dan Quinn
Arena	Pittsburgh Civic Arena
Team leaders
Goals	Mario Lemieux (70)
Assists	Mario Lemieux (98)
Points	Mario Lemieux (168)
Penalty minutes	Rod Buskas (206)
Wins	Steve Guenette (12)
Goals against average	Steve Guenette (3.35)
	← 1986–87 1988–89 →

The 1987–88 Pittsburgh Penguins season was the Penguins' 21st season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Penguins improved on their previous season, and finished with a winning record for the first time since the 1978–79 season. Nevertheless, the Penguins again did not qualify for the playoffs, actually finishing last in a tightly contested Patrick Division despite earning only seven fewer points than the division champion New York Islanders.

Offseason

Regular season

The Penguins were involved in one of the closest playoff races in NHL history, as they competed down the stretch with the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers for the final playoff spot in the Patrick Division. Despite two hefty losses to New Jersey in the last two weeks of the season, the Penguins gave themselves hope with a 7–6 overtime win against the Washington Capitals in their penultimate game of the season. On the last day of the season, the Penguins defeated the Hartford Whalers 4–2 and moved ahead of New York and New Jersey. However, this position was temporary as the Rangers shut out Quebec, 3–0, eliminating the Penguins. The Devils had the last laugh as they beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4–3 in overtime on a goal by John MacLean to claim the fourth and final Patrick Division playoff spot, ahead of both the Rangers and Penguins.^[1]^[2]

The Penguins finished the regular season 1st in power-play opportunities (500), power-play opportunities against (507), power-play goals against (120) and short-handed goals allowed (19).^[3]

Final standings

Patrick Division
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
New York Islanders	80	39	31	10	308	267	88
Philadelphia Flyers	80	38	33	9	292	292	85
Washington Capitals	80	38	33	9	281	249	85
New Jersey Devils	80	38	36	6	295	296	82
New York Rangers	80	36	34	10	300	283	82
Pittsburgh Penguins	80	36	35	9	319	316	81

^[4]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

1987–88 NHL records^[5]
Team	NJD	NYI	NYR	PHI	PIT	WSH	Total
New Jersey	—	3–4	3–4	5–0–2	6–1	2–5	19–14–2
N.Y. Islanders	4–3	—	2–2–3	3–3–1	2–4–1	4–2–1	15–14–6
N.Y. Rangers	4–3	2–2–3	—	3–3–1	2–3–2	2–5	13–16–6
Philadelphia	0–5–2	3–3–1	3–3–1	—	5–2	2–4–1	13–17–5
Pittsburgh	1–6	4–2–1	3–2–2	2–5	—	5–1–1	15–16–4
Washington	5–2	2–4–1	5–2	4–2–1	1–5–1	—	17–15–3

Vs. Adams Division

1987–88 NHL records
Team	BOS	BUF	HFD	MTL	QUE	Total
New Jersey	1–2	0–2–1	1–1–1	2–1	0–3	4–9–2
N.Y. Islanders	2–1	2–1	2–1	0–3	2–1	8–7–0
N.Y. Rangers	2–1	0–3	2–1	1–1–1	2–1	7–7–1
Philadelphia	2–1	3–0	2–1	0–1–2	2–0–1	9–3–3
Pittsburgh	0–2–1	2–0–1	2–1	2–1	3–0	9–4–2
Washington	2–1	0–2–1	2–1	1–1–1	2–1	7–6–2

Vs. Campbell Conference

Vs. Norris Division

1987–88 NHL records
Team	CHI	DET	MIN	STL	TOR	Total
New Jersey	3–0	0–3	3–0	3–0	2–1	11–4–0
N.Y. Islanders	0–1–2	1–2	1–1–1	2–0–1	0–3	4–7–4
N.Y. Rangers	2–0–1	1–1–1	2–1	3–0	2–1	10–3–2
Philadelphia	0–3	2–0–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	7–7–1
Pittsburgh	2–1	1–2	2–1	0–3	2–1	7–8–0
Washington	2–1	0–2–1	2–0–1	0–2–1	1–1–1	5–6–4

Vs. Smythe Division

1987–88 NHL records
Team	CGY	EDM	LAK	VAN	WIN	Total
New Jersey	1–2	2–1	1–1–1	0–3	0–2–1	4–9–2
N.Y. Islanders	2–1	2–1	3–0	3–0	2–1	12–3–0
N.Y. Rangers	1–2	1–2	0–3	2–1	2–0–1	6–8–1
Philadelphia	0–3	1–2	3–0	2–1	3–0	9–6–0
Pittsburgh	2–0–1	0–3	1–0–2	1–2	1–2	5–7–3
Washington	1–2	2–1	2–1	3–0	1–2	9–6–0

Schedule and results

1987–88 Schedule

October

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
1	Oct 8	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–4 OT	New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden (IV)	0–0–1	1
2	Oct 9	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–6	New Jersey Devils	Izod Center	0–1–1	1
3	Oct 13	Buffalo Sabres	3–8	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	1–1–1	3
4	Oct 15	New York Rangers	6–6 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	1–1–2	4
5	Oct 17	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–3	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	1–2–2	4
6	Oct 18	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–3	Philadelphia Flyers	The Spectrum	1–3–2	4
7	Oct 21	New Jersey Devils	5–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	1–4–2	4
8	Oct 23	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–5	Detroit Red Wings	Joe Louis Arena	1–5–2	4
9	Oct 24	Buffalo Sabres	3–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	2–5–2	6
10	Oct 27	Los Angeles Kings	4–4 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	2–5–3	7
11	Oct 29	Toronto Maple Leafs	4–0	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	2–6–3	7
12	Oct 31	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–4 OT	Quebec Nordiques	Quebec Coliseum	3–6–3	9

November

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
13	Nov 3	Philadelphia Flyers	1–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	4–6–3	11
14	Nov 5	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–2	New York Islanders	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	5–6–3	13
15	Nov 7	Pittsburgh Penguins	1–4	Boston Bruins	Boston Garden	5–7–3	13
16	Nov 11	Washington Capitals	2–3	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	6–7–3	15
17	Nov 12	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–5	Philadelphia Flyers	The Spectrum	6–8–3	15
18	Nov 14	New York Rangers	2–3 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	7–8–3	17
19	Nov 17	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–6	Vancouver Canucks	Pacific Coliseum	7–9–3	17
20	Nov 20	Pittsburgh Penguins	1–4	Edmonton Oilers	Northlands Coliseum	7–10–3	17
21	Nov 21	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–4 OT	Calgary Flames	Scotiabank Saddledome	7–10–4	18
22	Nov 25	Quebec Nordiques	4–6	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	8–10–4	20
23	Nov 27	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–2	Washington Capitals	Capital Centre	9–10–4	22
24	Nov 28	Washington Capitals	5–5 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	9–10–5	23

December

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
25	Dec 2	New York Islanders	7–1	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	9–11–5	23
26	Dec 5	Vancouver Canucks	3–6	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	10–11–5	25
27	Dec 9	Calgary Flames	2–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	11–11–5	27
28	Dec 11	New York Islanders	4–6	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	12–11–5	29
29	Dec 12	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–5	St. Louis Blues	The Checkerdome	12–12–5	29
30	Dec 15	Philadelphia Flyers	5–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	12–13–5	29
31	Dec 17	Pittsburgh Penguins	7–4	New Jersey Devils	Izod Center	13–13–5	31
32	Dec 19	New York Rangers	3–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	14–13–5	33
33	Dec 20	Pittsburgh Penguins	8–4	New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden (IV)	15–13–5	35
34	Dec 23	New Jersey Devils	6–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	15–14–5	35
35	Dec 26	Detroit Red Wings	3–6	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	16–14–5	37
36	Dec 27	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–3 OT	Buffalo Sabres	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium	16–14–6	38
37	Dec 29	Boston Bruins	4–4 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	16–14–7	39

January

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
38	Jan 1	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–5	Washington Capitals	Capital Centre	16–15–7	39
39	Jan 2	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–3	New York Islanders	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	16–16–7	39
40	Jan 5	Los Angeles Kings	4–4 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	16–16–8	40
41	Jan 7	Boston Bruins	3–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	16–17–8	40
42	Jan 9	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–5 OT	Hartford Whalers	XL Center	16–18–8	40
43	Jan 10	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–7	Detroit Red Wings	Joe Louis Arena	16–19–8	40
44	Jan 12	New York Islanders	5–5 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	16–19–9	41
45	Jan 15	Philadelphia Flyers	5–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	16–20–9	41
46	Jan 16	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–3	Toronto Maple Leafs	Maple Leaf Gardens	17–20–9	43
47	Jan 19	Pittsburgh Penguins	6–4	New York Islanders	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	18–20–9	45
48	Jan 20	Pittsburgh Penguins	8–3	Chicago Blackhawks	Chicago Stadium	19–20–9	47
49	Jan 23	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–3 OT	Montreal Canadiens	Montreal Forum	20–20–9	49
50	Jan 25	Edmonton Oilers	6–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	20–21–9	49
51	Jan 27	Winnipeg Jets	4–1	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	20–22–9	49
52	Jan 28	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–6	New Jersey Devils	Izod Center	20–23–9	49
53	Jan 30	Chicago Blackhawks	2–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	21–23–9	51

February

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
54	Feb 2	Washington Capitals	2–3 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	22–23–9	53
55	Feb 4	Minnesota North Stars	0–1	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	23–23–9	55
56	Feb 6	Hartford Whalers	4–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	24–23–9	57
57	Feb 7	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–6	New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden (IV)	24–24–9	57
58	Feb 13	Pittsburgh Penguins	7–5	Los Angeles Kings	The Forum	25–24–9	59
59	Feb 17	Pittsburgh Penguins	0–5	Vancouver Canucks	Pacific Coliseum	25–25–9	59
60	Feb 19	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–7	Edmonton Oilers	Northlands Coliseum	25–26–9	59
61	Feb 21	St. Louis Blues	5–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	25–27–9	59
62	Feb 23	Winnipeg Jets	4–3 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	25–28–9	59
63	Feb 25	Pittsburgh Penguins	1–2	New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden (IV)	25–29–9	59
64	Feb 28	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–7	Chicago Blackhawks	Chicago Stadium	25–30–9	59

March

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
65	Mar 1	Minnesota North Stars	3–8	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	26–30–9	61
66	Mar 5	New York Islanders	3–8	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	27–30–9	63
67	Mar 7	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–4	Calgary Flames	Scotiabank Saddledome	28–30–9	65
68	Mar 10	Pittsburgh Penguins	4–6	St. Louis Blues	The Checkerdome	28–31–9	65
69	Mar 12	Pittsburgh Penguins	3–6	Minnesota North Stars	Met Center	28–32–9	65
70	Mar 13	Pittsburgh Penguins	5–4	Winnipeg Jets	Winnipeg Arena	29–32–9	67
71	Mar 16	Toronto Maple Leafs	2–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	30–32–9	69
72	Mar 19	Philadelphia Flyers	0–7	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	31–32–9	71
73	Mar 20	Pittsburgh Penguins	2–4	Philadelphia Flyers	The Spectrum	31–33–9	71
74	Mar 23	Washington Capitals	1–7	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	32–33–9	73
75	Mar 25	Montreal Canadiens	2–5	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	33–33–9	75
76	Mar 27	Pittsburgh Penguins	6–3	Quebec Nordiques	Quebec Coliseum	34–33–9	77
77	Mar 29	Pittsburgh Penguins	0–4	New Jersey Devils	Izod Center	34–34–9	77
78	Mar 31	New Jersey Devils	7–2	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	34–35–9	77

April

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Location	Record	Points
79	Apr 2	Pittsburgh Penguins	7–6 OT	Washington Capitals	Capital Centre	35–35–9	79
80	Apr 3	Hartford Whalers	2–4	Pittsburgh Penguins	Civic Arena	36–35–9	81

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie

Playoffs

The Penguins missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season^[6]
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Mario Lemieux	77	70	98	168	23	92
Dan Quinn	70	40	39	79	–8	50
Randy Cunneyworth	71	35	39	74	13	141
Paul Coffey	46	15	52	67	–1	93
Doug Bodger	69	14	31	45	–4	103
Rob Brown	51	24	20	44	8	56
Dave Hunter^†	59	11	18	29	8	77
Charlie Simmer	50	11	17	28	6	24
Jock Callander	41	11	16	27	–13	45
Craig Simpson^‡	21	13	13	26	5	34
Ville Sirén	58	1	20	21	14	62
Dave McLlwain	66	11	8	19	–1	40
Troy Loney	65	5	13	18	–3	151
Phil Bourque	21	4	12	16	3	20
Dan Frawley	47	6	8	14	0	152
Jim Johnson	55	1	12	13	–4	87
Randy Hillier	55	1	12	13	–6	144
Rod Buskas	76	4	8	12	6	206
Zarley Zalapski	15	3	8	11	10	7
Steve Gotaas	36	5	6	11	–11	45
Moe Mantha Jr.^‡	21	2	8	10	6	23
Chris Dahlquist	44	3	6	9	3	69
Bob Errey	17	3	6	9	6	18
Mark Kachowski	38	5	3	8	1	126
Wilf Paiement	23	2	6	8	–4	39
Chris Kontos^‡	36	1	7	8	–3	12
Dave Hannan^‡	21	4	3	7	–2	23
Kevin Stevens	16	5	2	7	–6	8
Perry Ganchar^†	30	2	5	7	0	36
Dwight Mathiasen	23	0	6	6	–7	14
Bryan Erickson^†	11	1	4	5	2	0
Wayne Van Dorp	25	1	3	4	2	75
Chris Joseph^‡	17	0	4	4	2	12
Norm Schmidt	5	1	2	3	1	0
Brad Aitken	5	1	1	2	1	0
Lee Giffin	19	0	2	2	–2	9
Todd Charlesworth	6	2	0	2	0	2
Scott Gruhl	6	1	0	1	0	0
Warren Young	7	0	0	0	–4	15
Dave Goertz	2	0	0	0	–1	2
Pat Mayer	1	0	0	0	0	4
Jimmy Mann	9	0	0	0	0	53
Total		319	518	837	—	2,169

Goaltenders

Regular Season^[7]
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	A	PIM
Steve Guenette	19	1091:05	12	7	0	61	3.35	582	0.895	1	0	2
Frank Pietrangelo	21	1202:47	9	11	0	80	3.99	599	0.866	1	2	2
Gilles Meloche	27	1390:26	8	9	5	95	4.10	720	0.868	0	0	0
Patrick Riggin	22	1168:55	7	8	4	76	3.90	579	0.869	0	0	12
Total		4853:13	36	35	9	312	3.86	2480	0.874	2	2	16

^†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 player to score 60 goals in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 2–4 loss to Philadelphia on March 20.
Lemieux became the first player to score 150 points in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 7–1 win over Washington on March 23.
Lemieux became the first player to score 160 points in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 6–3 win over Quebec on March 27.
Lemieux became the first player to score 70 goals in a season for the Penguins. He did so in a 4–2 win over Hartford on April 3.
Lemieux established a new franchise record for goals (70), assists (98) and points (168) in a season. He held the previous high in all three categories.

Transactions

The Penguins were involved in the following transactions during the 1987–88 season:

Trades

November 24, 1987	To Edmonton Oilers Dave Hannan Chris Joseph Moe Mantha Craig Simpson	To Pittsburgh Penguins Paul Coffey Dave Hunter Wayne Van Dorp
December 17, 1987	To Montreal Canadiens future considerations (1988 3rd round pick)	To Pittsburgh Penguins Perry Ganchar future considerations (1988 3rd round pick)
February 4, 1988	To Los Angeles Kings Chris Kontos future considerations (1988 6th round pick)	To Pittsburgh Penguins Bryan Erickson

Additions and subtractions

Additions
Player	Former team	Via
Jimmy Mann	Quebec Nordiques	free agency (1987-06-16)
Pat Mayer	Muskegon Lumberjacks (IHL)	free agency (1987-07-10)
Jock Callander	St. Louis Blues	free agency (1987-07-31)
Mark Kachowski	Flint Spirits (IHL)	free agency (1987-08-31)
Wilf Paiement	Buffalo Sabres	free agency (1987-09-10)
Charlie Simmer	Boston Bruins	Waiver Draft (1987-10-05)
Scott Gruhl	Muskegon Lumberjacks (IHL)	free agency (1987-12-14)

Subtractions
Player	New team	Via
John Chabot	Detroit Red Wings	free agency (1987-06-25)
Neil Belland	Lukko (SM-liiga)	free agency
Kevin LaVallee	Innsbrucker EV (Austria)	free agency
Terry Ruskowski	Minnesota North Stars	free agency (1987-07)
Dwight Schofield	Winnipeg Jets	free agency (1987-07)
Mike Blaisdell	Toronto Maple Leafs	free agency (1987-07-10)

Draft picks

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	5	Chris Joseph	Defense	Canada	Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)
2	26	Richard Tabaracci	Goaltender	Canada	Cornwall Royals (OHL)
3	47	Jamie Leach	Right wing	United States	Hamilton Steelhawks (OHL)
4	68	Risto Kurkinen	Left wing	Finland	JyP HT Jyvaskyla (FNL)
5	89	Jeff Waver	Defense	Canada	Hamilton Steelhawks (OHL)
6	110	Shawn McEachern	Left wing	United States	Matignon H.S. (Massachusetts)
7	131	James Bodden	Center	Canada	Chatham (SOJHL)
8	152	Jiri Kucera	Right wing	Czechoslovakia	Dukla Jihlava (Czech)
9	173	Jack MacDougall	Right wing	United States	New Prep School (Massachusetts)
10	194	Daryn McBride	Center	Canada	U. of Denver (NCAA)
11	215	Mark Carlson	Left wing	United States	(Philadelphia Jrs.)
12	236	Ake Lilljebjorn	Goaltender	Sweden	Brynäs IF Gävle (SEL)
S1	5	Dan Shea	Left wing	United States	Boston College (Hockey East)
S2	9	John Leonard	Defense	United States	Bowdoin College (NESCAC)