1978–79 Washington Capitals season

1978–79 Washington Capitals
Division	4th Norris
1978–79 record	24–41–15
Goals for	273
Goals against	338
Team information
General manager	Max McNab
Coach	Danny Belisle
Captain	Guy Charron
Team leaders
Goals	Dennis Maruk Tom Rowe (31)
Assists	Dennis Maruk (59)
Points	Dennis Maruk (90)
Penalty minutes	Gord Lane (147)
Wins	Gary Inness (14)
Goals against average	Gary Inness (3.70)

The 1978–79 Washington Capitals season was the 5th in the franchise's history. The Capitals finished 4th in the Norris Division and did not qualify for the playoffs.

Regular Season

Final Standings

Norris Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Montreal Canadiens	80	52	17	11	337	204	115
Pittsburgh Penguins	80	36	31	13	281	279	85
Los Angeles Kings	80	34	34	12	292	286	80
Washington Capitals	80	24	41	15	273	338	63
Detroit Red Wings	80	23	41	16	252	295	62

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	W	October 11, 1978	4–2	@ Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	1–0–0
2	T	October 13, 1978	3–3	@ Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	1–0–1
3	L	October 14, 1978	3–6	Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	1–1–1
4	L	October 18, 1978	2–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	1–2–1
5	L	October 20, 1978	4–6	Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	1–3–1
6	L	October 21, 1978	1–5	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	1–4–1
7	T	October 25, 1978	2–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	1–4–2
8	L	October 28, 1978	1–5	@ Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	1–5–2
9	W	November 1, 1978	6–4	Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	2–5–2
10	L	November 2, 1978	2–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	2–6–2
11	L	November 4, 1978	1–4	@ New York Islanders (1978–79)	2–7–2
12	T	November 5, 1978	3–3	Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	2–7–3
13	L	November 8, 1978	0–6	Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	2–8–3
14	L	November 9, 1978	2–6	@ Boston Bruins (1978–79)	2–9–3
15	L	November 11, 1978	0–2	Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	2–10–3
16	W	November 14, 1978	8–7	Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	3–10–3
17	W	November 15, 1978	3–2	@ Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	4–10–3
18	L	November 17, 1978	2–4	New York Islanders (1978–79)	4–11–3
19	W	November 21, 1978	4–3	@ St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	5–11–3
20	L	November 22, 1978	1–3	St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	5–12–3
21	T	November 25, 1978	5–5	Boston Bruins (1978–79)	5–12–4
22	L	November 26, 1978	4–9	@ New York Rangers (1978–79)	5–13–4
23	L	November 29, 1978	3–5	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	5–14–4
24	L	December 1, 1978	4–7	Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	5–15–4
25	L	December 2, 1978	2–5	@ St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	5–16–4
26	L	December 4, 1978	2–10	@ Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	5–17–4
27	W	December 5, 1978	4–1	@ Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	6–17–4
28	W	December 9, 1978	7–5	@ Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	7–17–4
29	L	December 12, 1978	3–4	Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	7–18–4
30	L	December 14, 1978	2–5	@ Boston Bruins (1978–79)	7–19–4
31	L	December 15, 1978	1–6	Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	7–20–4
32	W	December 17, 1978	7–6	Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	8–20–4
33	T	December 19, 1978	4–4	Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	8–20–5
34	L	December 21, 1978	2–5	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	8–21–5
35	T	December 23, 1978	2–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	8–21–6
36	L	December 27, 1978	1–6	@ Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	8–22–6
37	T	December 30, 1978	5–5	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	8–22–7
38	W	January 3, 1979	8–3	Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	9–22–7
39	W	January 6, 1979	4–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	10–22–7
40	L	January 7, 1979	3–5	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	10–23–7
41	L	January 9, 1979	2–5	Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	10–24–7
42	L	January 11, 1979	2–6	@ Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	10–25–7
43	W	January 12, 1979	8–1	Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	11–25–7
44	W	January 14, 1979	5–3	Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	12–25–7
45	L	January 16, 1979	2–6	@ New York Islanders (1978–79)	12–26–7
46	W	January 19, 1979	5–1	Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	13–26–7
47	W	January 20, 1979	5–2	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	14–26–7
48	W	January 24, 1979	5–1	New York Rangers (1978–79)	15–26–7
49	W	January 27, 1979	4–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1978–79)	16–26–7
50	T	January 28, 1979	2–2	Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	16–26–8
51	L	January 30, 1979	4–7	@ Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	16–27–8
52	W	January 31, 1979	5–3	Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	17–27–8
53	L	February 3, 1979	1–5	Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	17–28–8
54	L	February 4, 1979	4–8	Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	17–29–8
55	W	February 15, 1979	9–3	@ Colorado Rockies (1978–79)	18–29–8
56	L	February 17, 1979	0–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	18–30–8
57	T	February 18, 1979	6–6	@ New York Rangers (1978–79)	18–30–9
58	L	February 20, 1979	3–5	@ Atlanta Flames (1978–79)	18–31–9
59	L	February 21, 1979	3–4	Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	18–32–9
60	L	February 24, 1979	4–6	Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	18–33–9
61	L	February 25, 1979	5–8	Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	18–34–9
62	T	February 28, 1979	3–3	@ Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	18–34–10
63	W	March 2, 1979	6–2	@ Vancouver Canucks (1978–79)	19–34–10
64	W	March 4, 1979	5–4	Minnesota North Stars (1978–79)	20–34–10
65	T	March 5, 1979	2–2	Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	20–34–11
66	W	March 10, 1979	7–5	St. Louis Blues (1978–79)	21–34–11
67	T	March 11, 1979	3–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	21–34–12
68	L	March 14, 1979	1–4	Detroit Red Wings (1978–79)	21–35–12
69	L	March 17, 1979	2–5	Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	21–36–12
70	T	March 18, 1979	3–3	@ Buffalo Sabres (1978–79)	21–36–13
71	T	March 20, 1979	2–2	New York Rangers (1978–79)	21–36–14
72	T	March 21, 1979	2–2	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	21–36–15
73	L	March 24, 1979	1–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	21–37–15
74	L	March 25, 1979	4–7	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1978–79)	21–38–15
75	L	March 28, 1979	2–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1978–79)	21–39–15
76	L	March 31, 1979	1–4	Boston Bruins (1978–79)	21–40–15
77	W	April 1, 1979	6–4	New York Islanders (1978–79)	22–40–15
78	W	April 3, 1979	6–2	Los Angeles Kings (1978–79)	23–40–15
79	L	April 7, 1979	3–10	@ Montreal Canadiens (1978–79)	23–41–15
80	W	April 8, 1979	5–2	Pittsburgh Penguins (1978–79)	24–41–15

Playoffs

• The Capitals did not qualify for the post season.

Player Stats

Regular Season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Maruk, DennisDennis Maruk	C	76	31	59	90	71	-14	6	2	3
Charron, GuyGuy Charron	C	80	28	42	70	24	-14	9	0	4
Picard, RobertRobert Picard	D	77	21	44	65	85	3	8	0	2
Rowe, TomTom Rowe	RW	69	31	30	61	137	-6	4	0	4
Walter, RyanRyan Walter	C/LW	69	28	28	56	70	-1	6	0	1
Sirois, BobBob Sirois	RW	73	29	25	54	6	-6	9	0	3
Edberg, RolfRolf Edberg	C	76	14	27	41	6	11	1	0	2
Green, RickRick Green	D	71	8	33	41	62	-45	2	1	0
Svensson, LeifLeif Svensson	D	74	2	29	31	28	-3	0	0	0
Girard, BobBob Girard	LW	79	9	15	24	36	-15	0	0	0
Lofthouse, MarkMark Lofthouse	RW/C	52	13	10	23	10	-11	1	0	0
Stewart, BlairBlair Stewart	C	45	7	12	19	48	1	0	0	0
Polis, GregGreg Polis	LW	19	12	6	18	6	3	6	0	1
Lane, GordGord Lane	D	64	3	15	18	147	-15	0	0	0
Labre, YvonYvon Labre	D	51	1	13	14	80	7	0	0	0
Bergeron, MichelMichel Bergeron	RW	30	7	6	13	7	-18	1	0	1
Mulvey, PaulPaul Mulvey	LW	55	7	4	11	81	-18	1	0	1
Carroll, GregGreg Carroll	C	24	5	6	11	12	-2	0	0	0
Hextall, DennisDennis Hextall	LW	26	2	9	11	43	-13	0	0	0
Scamurra, PeterPeter Scamurra	D	30	3	5	8	12	-13	0	1	0
Lynch, JackJack Lynch	D	30	2	6	8	14	2	1	0	0
Rissling, GaryGary Rissling	LW	26	3	3	6	127	-5	1	0	1
Meehan, GerryGerry Meehan	C	18	2	4	6	0	-3	1	0	1
Riley, BillBill Riley	RW	24	2	2	4	64	-6	0	0	0
Lalonde, RonRon Lalonde	C	18	1	3	4	4	-1	0	1	0
Godin, EddyEddy Godin	RW	9	0	3	3	6	-2	0	0	0
Patrick, CraigCraig Patrick	RW	3	1	1	2	0	-1	0	0	0
Arnason, ChuckChuck Arnason	RW	13	0	2	2	4	-1	0	0	0
Inness, GaryGary Inness	G	37	0	2	2	6	0	0	0	0
Patey, DougDoug Patey	RW	6	1	0	1	2	-2	0	0	0
Forbes, DaveDave Forbes	LW	2	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0
Watson, BryanBryan Watson	D	20	0	1	1	36	-7	0	0	0
Smith, GordGord Smith	D	39	0	1	1	22	-7	0	0	0
Tremblay, BrentBrent Tremblay	D	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bouchard, PierrePierre Bouchard	D	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Boutin, RollieRollie Boutin	G	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bragnalo, RickRick Bragnalo	C	2	0	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0
Burton, NelsonNelson Burton	LW	3	0	0	0	13	-2	0	0	0
Marson, MikeMike Marson	LW	4	0	0	0	0	-3	0	0	0
Wolfe, BernieBernie Wolfe	G	18	0	0	0	15	0	0	0	0
Bedard, JimJim Bedard	G	30	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Inness, GaryGary Inness	2107	37	14	14	8	130	3.70	0
Bedard, JimJim Bedard	1740	30	6	17	6	126	4.34	0
Wolfe, BernieBernie Wolfe	863	18	4	9	1	68	4.73	0
Boutin, RollieRollie Boutin	90	2	0	1	0	10	6.67	0
Team:	4800	80	24	41	15	334	4.17	0

Note: 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

• The Capitals did not win any awards this season.

See Also

• 1978–79 NHL season

External Links

• 1978–79 Washington Capitals Games. Hockey-reference.com. Retrieved on 2009-05-07.