1978–79 Quebec Nordiques season

The 1978–79 Quebec Nordiques season was the Nordiques' seventh season in the WHA, were coming off of a 40-37-3 record in the 1977–78 season and a loss in the playoff semi-finals. The Nordiques improved to 41–34–5 to qualify for the playoffs, but lost in the first round to eventual Avco Cup champions Winnipeg Jets.

1978–79 Quebec Nordiques
Division2nd WHA
1978–79 record41–34–5
Home record24–13–4
Road record17–21–1
Goals for288
Goals against271
Team information
General managerMaurice Filion
CoachJacques Demers
CaptainMarc Tardif
ArenaColisée de Québec
Team leaders
GoalsReal Cloutier (75)
AssistsMarc Tardif (55)
PointsReal Cloutier (129)
Penalty minutesPaul Baxter (240)
Plus/minusMarc Tardif (+25)
WinsRichard Brodeur (25)
Goals against averageRichard Brodeur (3.11)

After the season was finished, the WHA announced that four of its teams, the Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers and Winnipeg Jets would be admitted to the National Hockey League as expansion teams for the 1979–80 NHL season, and that the WHA would cease operations. During their seven seasons in the WHA, Quebec had a record of 295-237-24, while winning the 1977 Avco Cup.

Off-season

During the off-season, the league would lose the Houston Aeros, as they elected to fold as the club was not part of an NHL-WHA merger, leaving the WHA with seven teams. The league also announced that games against all-star teams from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Finland would once again count in the standings. The Nordiques would hire a new head coach, as Jacques Demers would take over from Maurice Filion, who ended the previous season as the interim head coach. Demers had previously coached the Indianapolis Racers and Cincinnati Stingers.

Regular season

The Nordiques would start the season slowly, going winless in their opening five games, however, the team snapped out of their slump, winning ten of their next thirteen games to push themselves over the .500 mark. Quebec would stay consistent throughout the season, easily clinching a playoff berth, as the Nordiques would finish the season with a 41-34-5 record, finishing second in the league behind the Edmonton Oilers, who had eleven more points than Quebec.

Offensively, Quebec was led by Real Cloutier, who won the Bill Hunter Trophy by earning a league high 129 points. It was the fourth year in a row that a player from the Nordiques (Marc Tardif in 1976 and 1978, and Cloutier in 1977) would win that award. Cloutier scored a team record 75 goals, and added 54 assists. Marc Tardif had another solid season, scoring 41 goals and 96 points, while Serge Bernier added 36 goals and 82 points. Rich Leduc joined the 30 goal club, as he registered 30 goals and 62 points. On defense, Paul Baxter led the way, scoring 10 goals and 46 points, as well as a team high 240 PIM. Forty-year-old J. C. Tremblay had a productive year, earning 44 points in 56 games.

In goal, Richard Brodeur and Jim Corsi split the action, with Brodeur winning a team high 25 games, as well as a club best 3.11 GAA. Corsi had 16 victories and a 3.30 GAA, while both goaltenders earned three shutouts.

Season standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points

WHA Team GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM
Edmonton Oilers8048302983402661220
Quebec Nordiques8041345872882711399
Winnipeg Jets8039356843073061342
New England Whalers8037349832982871090
Cincinnati Stingers8033416722742841651
Birmingham Bulls8032426702863111661
xIndianapolis Racers2551821278130557
#Soviet All-Stars64119272077
#Czechoslovakia614131433107
#Finland10100482

x-team folded during season #-played limited schedule

Schedule and results
#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecordPts
1October 15New England Whalers6–5Quebec Nordiques0–1–00
2October 17Cincinnati Stingers5–5Quebec Nordiques0–1–11
3October 18Indianapolis Racers4–0Quebec Nordiques0–2–11
4October 21Quebec Nordiques1–7New England Whalers0–3–11
5October 22Birmingham Bulls8–5Quebec Nordiques0–4–11
6October 25Cincinnati Stingers3–4Quebec Nordiques1–4–13
7October 26New England Whalers5–8Quebec Nordiques2–4–15
8October 28Quebec Nordiques3–4Cincinnati Stingers2–5–15
9October 29Quebec Nordiques6–2Edmonton Oilers3–5–17
10October 31Quebec Nordiques5–4Edmonton Oilers4–5–19
11November 3Quebec Nordiques3–2Birmingham Bulls5–5–111
12November 4Quebec Nordiques3–1Birmingham Bulls6–5–113
13November 5Edmonton Oilers0–2Quebec Nordiques7–5–115
14November 7Winnipeg Jets2–1Quebec Nordiques7–6–115
15November 8Edmonton Oilers6–5Quebec Nordiques7–7–115
16November 11Indianapolis Racers2–8Quebec Nordiques8–7–117
17November 12Quebec Nordiques6–4Winnipeg Jets9–7–119
18November 15Winnipeg Jets2–5Quebec Nordiques10–7–121
19November 21Quebec Nordiques1–4Edmonton Oilers10–8–121
20November 24Quebec Nordiques3–4Edmonton Oilers10–9–121
21November 26Winnipeg Jets2–2Quebec Nordiques10–9–222
22November 29Birmingham Bulls4–7Quebec Nordiques11–9–224
23December 2Cincinnati Stingers0–2Quebec Nordiques12–9–226
24December 3Winnipeg Jets3–5Quebec Nordiques13–9–228
25December 6Edmonton Oilers3–6Quebec Nordiques14–9–230
26December 9Cincinnati Stingers3–4Quebec Nordiques15–9–232
27December 10Quebec Nordiques4–4Winnipeg Jets15–9–333
28December 12Soviet All-Stars6–3Quebec Nordiques15–10–333
29December 14Birmingham Bulls2–3Quebec Nordiques16–10–335
30December 16Quebec Nordiques1–2New England Whalers16–11–335
31December 17New England Whalers4–4Quebec Nordiques16–11–436
32December 22Quebec Nordiques5–1Birmingham Bulls17–11–438
33December 23Quebec Nordiques2–6Cincinnati Stingers17–12–438
34December 28Czechoslovakian All-Stars0–4Quebec Nordiques18–12–440
35December 30Birmingham Bulls2–3Quebec Nordiques19–12–442
36January 7Quebec Nordiques2–3Winnipeg Jets19–13–442
37January 9Quebec Nordiques4–3Cincinnati Stingers20–13–444
38January 12Quebec Nordiques2–1Cincinnati Stingers21–13–446
39January 18Quebec Nordiques4–2New England Whalers22–13–448
40January 20Winnipeg Jets1–10Quebec Nordiques23–13–450
41January 21Quebec Nordiques1–3Winnipeg Jets23–14–450
42January 23Quebec Nordiques7–5Birmingham Bulls24–14–452
43January 27Winnipeg Jets4–2Quebec Nordiques24–15–452
44January 30Quebec Nordiques1–2Birmingham Bulls24–16–452
45February 1Quebec Nordiques5–7Birmingham Bulls24–17–452
46February 2Quebec Nordiques1–4New England Whalers24-18–452
47February 4Edmonton Oilers3–6Quebec Nordiques25–18–454
48February 6New England Whalers5–3Quebec Nordiques25–19–454
49February 9Quebec Nordiques0–3Edmonton Oilers25–20–454
50February 13Quebec Nordiques1–6Edmonton Oilers25–21–454
51February 17Quebec Nordiques1–4New England Whalers25–22–454
52February 18Quebec Nordiques4–2Cincinnati Stingers26–22–456
53February 20Quebec Nordiques7–3Birmingham Bulls27–22–458
54February 23Quebec Nordiques4–5New England Whalers27–23–458
55February 24New England Whalers0–6Quebec Nordiques28–23–460
56February 25Cincinnati Stingers1–1Quebec Nordiques28–23–561
57March 3Birmingham Bulls2–3Quebec Nordiques29–23–563
58March 4Birmingham Bulls4–5Quebec Nordiques30–23–565
59March 6Edmonton Oilers3–4Quebec Nordiques31–23–567
60March 7Edmonton Oilers3–6Quebec Nordiques32–23–569
61March 9Quebec Nordiques3–1New England Whalers33–23–571
62March 10Quebec Nordiques2–5Cincinnati Stingers33–24–571
63March 11Quebec Nordiques2–7Winnipeg Jets33–25–571
64March 14Quebec Nordiques4-2Winnipeg Jets34–25–573
65March 16Quebec Nordiques1–6Edmonton Oilers34–26–573
66March 18Quebec Nordiques7–2Edmonton Oilers35–26-575
67March 20New England Whalers7–6Quebec Nordiques35–27–575
68March 23Quebec Nordiques3–5New England Whalers35–28–575
69March 24Quebec Nordiques5–2Cincinnati Stingers36–28–577
70March 25Birmingham Bulls2–3Quebec Nordiques37–28–579
71March 28Edmonton Oilers0-3Quebec Nordiques38–28–581
72March 30Quebec Nordiques2–0Winnipeg Jets39–28–583
73April 1Winnipeg Jets7–3Quebec Nordiques39–29–583
74April 3Quebec Nordiques3–5Birmingham Bulls39–30–583
75April 4Edmonton Oilers2–4Quebec Nordiques40–30–585
76April 7Quebec Nordiques2–6Cincinnati Stingers40–31–585
77April 10New England Whalers5–2Quebec Nordiques40–32–585
78April 11Cincinnati Stingers6–2Quebec Nordiques40–33–585
79April 15Cincinnati Stingers2–4Quebec Nordiques41–33–587
80April 17New England Whalers6–2Quebec Nordiques41–34–587

Playoffs

In the opening round of the playoffs, Quebec would face the Winnipeg Jets in a best of seven semi-final series. The Jets finished the season with a 39-35-6 record, earning 84 points, and a third-place finish. The series opened with two games in Quebec, however, the Jets struck first, easily dominating the Nordiques in the series opener, by winning the game 6-3, before crushing Quebec in the second game 9-2 to take a two-game series lead. The series moved to Winnipeg for the next two games, and the Jets would stay hot, as they continued to dominate the Nordiques in the third and fourth games of the series, winning them 9-5 and 6-2 respectively to sweep Quebec out of the playoffs.

Winnipeg Jets 4, Quebec Nordiques 0
#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecord
1April 23Winnipeg Jets6–3Quebec Nordiques0–1
2April 25Winnipeg Jets9–2Quebec Nordiques0–2
3April 27Quebec Nordiques5–9Winnipeg Jets0–3
4April 29Quebec Nordiques2–6Winnipeg Jets0–4

Player statistics
Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG
Real CloutierRW77755412948232100
Marc TardifLW7441559698251200
Serge BernierRW65364682717930
Rich LeDucC6130326230-11210
Paul BaxterD76103646240-5600
Bob FitchnerC7910354569-3100
J. C. TremblayD5663844810000
Garry LariviereD505333854-11100
Paulin BordeleauRW77171229441210
Alain CoteLW7914132723-7010
Curt BrackenburyRW70131326155-5100
Danny GeoffrionRW7712142674-2000
Francois LacombeD7832124444000
Dale HogansonD6921921171100
Christian BordeleauC165121706000
Norm DubeLW362131546000
Gilles BilodeauLW363691412000
Wally WeirD682791669000
Kevin MorrisonD2725714-2100
Richard DavidLW1404443000
Richard BrodeurG4203320000
Jim CorsiG40022200000
Jim DoreyD3202217-5000
Pierre LagaceLW21011120000
Kevin DevineLW50006-3000
Rene LeclercRW230008-2000
Jean-Louis LevasseurG300000000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO
Richard Brodeur243342251331263.113
Jim Corsi229140162011263.303
Jean-Louis Levasseur1403011146.000
Team:486480413452663.286
Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM PPG SHG GWG
Marc TardifLW46284000
Real CloutierRW42242000
Bob FitchnerC41340000
Danny GeoffrionRW41232000
Curt BrackenburyRW41122000
Paul BaxterD40227000
Rich LeDucC40220000
Paulin BordeleauRW41010000
Francois LacombeD40117000
Pierre LagaceLW30112000
Garry LariviereD40112000
Wally WeirD40114000
Serge BernierRW10002000
Gilles BilodeauLW300025000
Richard BrodeurG30000000
Jim CorsiG20002000
Alain CoteLW40002000
Jim DoreyD30000000
Dale HogansonD40002000
Rene LeclercRW40000000
Jean-Louis LevasseurG10002000
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO
Richard Brodeur114302147.370
Jim Corsi6620176.360
Jean-Louis Levasseur5910188.140
Team:239404297.280

[1]

Note:
Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals
Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

See also

References
  1. "1978-79 Quebec Nordiques Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
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