1978–79 New York Islanders season

1978–79 New York Islanders
Division	1st Patrick
Conference	Clarence Campbell
1978–79 record	51-15-14
Goals for	358
Goals against	214
Team information
General manager	Bill Torrey
Coach	Al Arbour
Captain	Clark Gillies
Alternate captains	None
Arena	Nassau Coliseum
Team leaders
Goals	Mike Bossy (69)
Assists	Bryan Trottier (87)
Points	Bryan Trottier (134)
Penalty minutes	Garry Howatt (205)

The 1978–79 New York Islanders season was the seventh season for the franchise in the National Hockey League.

Offseason

NHL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team

Regular season

Season Standings

Patrick Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
New York Islanders	80	51	15	14	358	214	116
Philadelphia Flyers	80	40	25	15	281	248	95
New York Rangers	80	40	29	11	316	292	91
Atlanta Flames	80	41	31	8	327	280	90

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

Game log

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	T	October 12, 1978	2–2	@ Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	0–0–1
2	L	October 14, 1978	7–10	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	0–1–1
3	W	October 17, 1978	3–1	Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	1–1–1
4	W	October 18, 1978	5–3	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	2–1–1
5	W	October 21, 1978	5–3	New York Rangers (1978–79)	3–1–1
6	T	October 24, 1978	4–4	Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	3–1–2
7	L	October 27, 1978	5–8	@ Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	3–2–2
8	W	October 28, 1978	5–2	Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	4–2–2
9	W	October 31, 1978	8–5	Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	5–2–2
10	L	November 2, 1978	1–4	@ Boston Bruins (1978–79)	5–3–2
11	W	November 4, 1978	4–1	Washington Capitals (1978–79)	6–3–2
12	W	November 7, 1978	5–2	Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	7–3–2
13	W	November 11, 1978	4–2	Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	8–3–2
14	W	November 12, 1978	5–3	@ New York Rangers (1978–79)	9–3–2
15	T	November 14, 1978	2–2	Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	9–3–3
16	W	November 17, 1978	4–2	@ Washington Capitals (1978–79)	10–3–3
17	W	November 18, 1978	8–2	Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	11–3–3
18	W	November 21, 1978	7–1	@ Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	12–3–3
19	W	November 22, 1978	4–1	@ Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	13–3–3
20	W	November 25, 1978	5–2	@ Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	14–3–3
21	T	November 29, 1978	5–5	@ Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	14–3–4
22	W	December 2, 1978	5–2	@ Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	15–3–4
23	T	December 5, 1978	3–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	15–3–5
24	W	December 7, 1978	7–1	St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	16–3–5
25	W	December 9, 1978	3–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	17–3–5
26	L	December 10, 1978	3–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	17–4–5
27	T	December 12, 1978	5–5	Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	17–4–6
28	W	December 14, 1978	4–1	Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	18–4–6
29	T	December 16, 1978	2–2	@ St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	18–4–7
30	W	December 17, 1978	3–0	@ Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	19–4–7
31	W	December 21, 1978	5–1	St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	20–4–7
32	W	December 23, 1978	9–4	New York Rangers (1978–79)	21–4–7
33	W	December 26, 1978	5–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	22–4–7
34	W	December 28, 1978	10–4	@ Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	23–4–7
35	W	December 30, 1978	4–2	Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	24–4–7
36	W	January 2, 1979	9–0	Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	25–4–7
37	L	January 4, 1979	2–3	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	25–5–7
38	W	January 6, 1979	5–1	Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	26–5–7
39	W	January 9, 1979	7–1	Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	27–5–7
40	T	January 10, 1979	5–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	27–5–8
41	W	January 12, 1979	4–1	@ Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	28–5–8
42	T	January 14, 1979	1–1	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	28–5–9
43	W	January 16, 1979	6–2	Washington Capitals (1978–79)	29–5–9
44	L	January 17, 1979	3–5	@ New York Rangers (1978–79)	29–6–9
45	W	January 20, 1979	4–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	30–6–9
46	W	January 22, 1979	2–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	31–6–9
47	W	January 25, 1979	4–2	@ Boston Bruins (1978–79)	32–6–9
48	L	January 27, 1979	2–7	New York Rangers (1978–79)	32–7–9
49	L	January 30, 1979	4–5	Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	32–8–9
50	W	February 1, 1979	4–1	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	33–8–9
51	T	February 3, 1979	4–4	Boston Bruins (1978–79)	33–8–10
52	L	February 4, 1979	4–5	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	33–9–10
53	W	February 13, 1979	6–1	Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	34–9–10
54	L	February 14, 1979	1–2	@ Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	34–10–10
55	W	February 17, 1979	5–3	@ Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	35–10–10
56	W	February 19, 1979	8–3	@ Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	36–10–10
57	W	February 22, 1979	6–1	St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	37–10–10
58	W	February 24, 1979	3–1	Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	38–10–10
59	L	February 25, 1979	2–3	@ New York Rangers (1978–79)	38–11–10
60	W	February 27, 1979	7–3	Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	39–11–10
61	L	March 2, 1979	2–3	@ Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	39–12–10
62	W	March 3, 1979	4–2	Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	40–12–10
63	L	March 6, 1979	2–3	Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	40–13–10
64	T	March 7, 1979	5–5	@ St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	40–13–11
65	W	March 10, 1979	7–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	41–13–11
66	T	March 11, 1979	4–4	@ Boston Bruins (1978–79)	41–13–12
67	W	March 13, 1979	7–2	Boston Bruins (1978–79)	42–13–12
68	W	March 15, 1979	6–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	43–13–12
69	W	March 17, 1979	5–2	New York Rangers (1978–79)	44–13–12
70	W	March 18, 1979	5–3	@ Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	45–13–12
71	W	March 22, 1979	5–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	46–13–12
72	T	March 24, 1979	3–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	46–13–13
73	T	March 25, 1979	2–2	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	46–13–14
74	L	March 29, 1979	1–6	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	46–14–14
75	W	March 31, 1979	2–0	Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	47–14–14
76	L	April 1, 1979	4–6	@ Washington Capitals (1978–79)	47–15–14
77	W	April 3, 1979	3–2	Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	48–15–14
78	W	April 5, 1979	3–1	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	49–15–14
79	W	April 7, 1979	9–2	Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	50–15–14
80	W	April 8, 1979	5–2	@ New York Rangers (1978–79)	51–15–14

Player stats

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Trottier, BryanBryan Trottier C 76 47 87 134 50 76 15 0 8 Bossy, MikeMike Bossy RW 80 69 57 126 25 63 27 0 9 Potvin, DenisDenis Potvin D 73 31 70 101 58 71 12 3 2 Gillies, ClarkClark Gillies LW 75 35 56 91 68 57 11 0 5 Persson, StefanStefan Persson D 78 10 56 66 57 38 6 0 1 Bourne, BobBob Bourne C 80 30 31 61 48 34 4 1 2 Tonelli, JohnJohn Tonelli LW 73 17 39 56 44 29 1 0 4 Harris, BillyBilly Harris RW 80 15 39 54 18 26 0 0 5 Merrick, WayneWayne Merrick C 75 20 21 41 24 13 2 0 0 Nystrom, BobBob Nystrom RW 78 19 20 39 113 19 1 0 5 Kaszycki, MikeMike Kaszycki C 71 16 18 34 37 7 2 0 4 Henning, LorneLorne Henning C 73 13 20 33 14 17 0 2 2 Howatt, GarryGarry Howatt LW 75 16 12 28 205 6 0 0 2 Lewis, DaveDave Lewis D 79 5 18 23 43 43 0 0 0 Lorimer, BobBob Lorimer D 67 3 18 21 42 27 0 0 0 Westfall, EdEd Westfall D/RW 55 5 11 16 4 0 0 1 1 Hart, GerryGerry Hart D 50 2 14 16 78 30 0 0 1 Price, PatPat Price D 55 3 11 14 50 18 0 0 0 Marshall, BertBert Marshall D 45 1 8 9 29 9 0 0 0 Hansen, RichieRichie Hansen C 12 1 6 7 4 9 0 0 0 Resch, GlennGlenn Resch G 43 0 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 Smith, BillyBilly Smith G 40 0 2 2 54 0 0 0 0 Hordy, MikeMike Hordy D 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Marini, HectorHector Marini RW 1 0 0 0 2 -2 0 0 0 McKendry, AlexAlex McKendry W 4 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 Tambellini, SteveSteve Tambellini C 1 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Resch, GlennGlenn Resch 2539 43 26 7 10 106 2.50 2 Smith, BillyBilly Smith 2261 40 25 8 4 108 2.87 1 Team: 4800 80 51 15 14 214 2.67 3

Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM PPG SHG GWG Potvin, DenisDenis Potvin D 10 4 7 11 8 0 0 1 Bossy, MikeMike Bossy RW 10 6 2 8 2 2 0 1 Tonelli, JohnJohn Tonelli LW 10 1 6 7 0 0 0 0 Trottier, BryanBryan Trottier C 10 2 4 6 13 0 0 1 Nystrom, BobBob Nystrom RW 10 3 2 5 4 0 0 1 Merrick, WayneWayne Merrick C 10 2 3 5 2 0 0 0 Bourne, BobBob Bourne C 10 1 3 4 6 0 0 0 Kaszycki, MikeMike Kaszycki C 10 1 3 4 4 0 0 0 Lorimer, BobBob Lorimer D 10 1 3 4 15 0 0 0 Persson, StefanStefan Persson D 10 0 4 4 8 0 0 0 Harris, BillyBilly Harris RW 10 2 1 3 10 1 0 1 Gillies, ClarkClark Gillies LW 10 1 2 3 11 0 0 0 Westfall, EdEd Westfall D/RW 6 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 Henning, LorneLorne Henning C 10 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 Hart, GerryGerry Hart D 9 0 2 2 10 0 0 0 Howatt, GarryGarry Howatt LW 9 0 1 1 18 0 0 0 Price, PatPat Price D 7 0 1 1 25 0 0 0 Lewis, DaveDave Lewis D 10 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Marini, HectorHector Marini RW 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Resch, GlennGlenn Resch G 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Smith, BillyBilly Smith G 5 0 0 0 4 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO Smith, BillyBilly Smith 315 5 4 1 10 1.90 1 Resch, GlennGlenn Resch 300 5 2 3 11 2.20 1 Team: 615 10 6 4 21 2.05 2

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
      MIN = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts;

Awards and records

• December 23/78: Bryan Trottier, Most Points, One Period, 6

References

• Islanders on Hockey Database