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1978–79 New York Rangers season

NHL hockey team season

Field	Value
League	NHL
Season	1978–79
year	1978
Team	New York Rangers
Conference	Campbell
ConferenceRank	3rd
Division	Patrick
DivisionRank	3rd
Record	40–29–11
HomeRecord	19–13–8
RoadRecord	21–16–3
GoalsFor	316
GoalsAgainst	292
GeneralManager	Fred Shero
Coach	Fred Shero
Captain	Dave Maloney
AltCaptain	None
Arena	Madison Square Garden
GoalsLeader	Phil Esposito (42)
AssistsLeader	Anders Hedberg (46)
PointsLeader	Anders Hedberg (79)
PIMLeader	Nick Fotiu (190)
WinsLeader	John Davidson (20)
GAALeader	John Davidson (3.52)

The 1978–79 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 53rd season. The highlight of the season was participating in the Stanley Cup Finals, as the Rangers played 12 consecutive playoff games without losing in regulation.

Offseason

The Rangers fired their general manager John Ferguson and head coach Jean-Guy Talbot, replacing them with former Philadelphia Flyers and two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach Fred Shero.

The Rangers signed forwards Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson away from the WHA's Winnipeg Jets.

The Rangers chose Don Maloney with their first pick, in the second-round, 26th over-all. Maloney was the younger brother of Dave Maloney, a defenceman with the Rangers. Don Maloney would get into 28 games for the Rangers that season.

New team colors

New Rangers colors

In 1978 the Ranger's introduced a new color scheme. While the logo and design remained the same, the Rangers changed to a much lighter shade of blue, dispensing with the dark blue that had been used since the team's inception in 1926. The Rangers would use the new colors until 1999.

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

|- | 1 || 12 || Philadelphia Flyers || 3 – 3 || 0–0–1 |- | 2 || 15 || Colorado Rockies || 4 – 1 || 1–0–1 |- | 3 || 18 || Detroit Red Wings || 3 – 3 || 1–0–2 |- | 4 || 19 || @ Detroit Red Wings || 2 – 2 || 1–0–3 |- | 5 || 21 || @ New York Islanders || 5 – 3 || 1–1–3 |- | 6 || 22 || Toronto Maple Leafs || 5 – 2 || 2–1–3 |- | 7 || 25 || Vancouver Canucks || 6 – 2 || 3–1–3 |- | 8 || 28 || @ Montreal Canadiens || 2 – 1 || 4–1–3 |- | 9 || 29 || Pittsburgh Penguins || 3 – 2 || 5–1–3

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73
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75
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76
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77
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78
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79
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80
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| Legend:

Season summary

February 25: During a win against the Islanders, Ulf Nilsson was injured on a hip check by Denis Potvin of the New York Islanders. He suffered a broken ankle when his skate blade got caught in a crevice in the Madison Square Garden ice as he was hit by Potvin, which resulted in Nilsson bearing the entire force of the hit on only one leg. Although Nilsson has never characterized the hit as dirty and, in 2009, said, "He [Potvin] was always fair. But the ice was never great in the Garden, because they had basketball and other events. My foot got caught. It was a freak thing." Nevertheless the incident is still commemorated by the "Potvin Sucks" chant that takes place during every Rangers home game, and to this day, this would serve as the origin to this infamous "Potvin Sucks" chant at Madison Square Garden.

Playoffs

Main article: 1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, 1979 Stanley Cup Finals

Stanley Cup Finals

The Rangers faced the defending champion Montreal Canadiens, who were making their fourth straight Stanley Cup Finals appearance. It was the Rangers' first appearance in the finals since the 1972 Stanley Cup Finals. The Canadiens would win the best-of-seven series four games to one, to win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup.

|- | 1 || April 10 || Los Angeles Kings || 1 – 7 || New York Rangers || || New York Rangers lead series 1-0 |- | 2 || April 12 || New York Rangers || 2 – 1 || Los Angeles Kings || OT || New York Rangers win series 2-0

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| Legend:

Player statistics

;Skaters

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	80	33	46	79	33
	80	42	36	78	37
	80	34	41	75	56
	59	27	39	66	21
	79	27	36	63	35
	80	20	38	58	35
	60	17	36	53	66
	66	13	34	47	24
	77	8	37	45	86
	77	15	27	42	38
	40	15	21	36	6
	70	6	25	31	37
	71	5	26	31	153
	68	13	16	29	29
	62	11	17	28	26
	76	11	17	28	151
	28	9	17	26	39
	71	1	19	20	61
	30	5	3	8	27
	71	3	5	8	190
‡	6	1	1	2	8
	4	0	1	1	6
	18	0	1	1	18
	1	0	0	0	2
	1	0	0	0	0
	1	0	0	0	0
	2	0	0	0	0
	2	0	0	0	0

GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
18	7	13	20	19
18	8	12	20	20
18	2	11	13	8
18	7	5	12	12
18	7	5	12	16
18	4	7	11	10
18	2	9	11	13
18	5	4	9	11
18	4	5	9	12
18	5	3	8	13
18	1	7	8	6
15	4	3	7	8
17	3	4	7	45
18	0	6	6	29
18	0	6	6	20
17	5	0	5	10
7	0	2	2	14
9	2	0	2	4
4	0	0	0	6
2	0	0	0	2

;Goaltenders

GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
39	2232	20	12	5	131	3.52	0
31	1668	15	10	3	101	3.63	1
17	900	5	7	3	57	3.80	0

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
	18	1106	11	7	42	2.28	1

†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

Draft picks

New York's picks at the 1978 NHL amateur draft in Montreal, Canada.

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
2	26	Don Maloney	LW	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHA)
3	43	Ray Markham	C	Canada	Flin Flon Bombers (WCHL)
3	44	Dean Turner	D	United States	University of Michigan (NCAA)
4	59	Dave Silk	RW	United States	Boston University (NCAA)
4	60	Andre Dore	D	Canada	Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
5	76	Mike MacDougall	RW	United States	Port Huron Flags (IHL)
6	93	Tom Laidlaw	D	Canada	Northern Michigan University (NCAA)
7	110	Dan Clark	D	Canada	Milwaukee Admirals (IHL)
8	127	Greg Kostenko	D	Canada	Ohio State University (NCAA)
9	144	Brian McDavid	D	Canada	Kitchener Rangers (OHA)
10	161	Mark Rodrigues	G	United States	Yale University (NCAA)
11	176	Steve Weeks	G	Canada	Northern Michigan University (NCAA)
12	192	Pierre Daigneault	LW	Canada	Montreal Juniors (QMJHL)
13	206	Chris McLaughlin	D	United States	Dartmouth College (NCAA)
14	217	Todd Johnson	C	United States	Boston University (NCAA)
15	223	Dan McCarthy	C	Canada	Sudbury Wolves (OHA)

References

"NEW YORK RANGERS LOGO". 1000 Logos.
"1978–79 New York Rangers Schedule".
"1978-79 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	80	33	46	79	33
	80	42	36	78	37
	80	34	41	75	56
	59	27	39	66	21
	79	27	36	63	35
	80	20	38	58	35
	60	17	36	53	66
	66	13	34	47	24
	77	8	37	45	86
	77	15	27	42	38
	40	15	21	36	6
	70	6	25	31	37
	71	5	26	31	153
	68	13	16	29	29
	62	11	17	28	26
	76	11	17	28	151
	28	9	17	26	39
	71	1	19	20	61
	30	5	3	8	27
	71	3	5	8	190
‡	6	1	1	2	8
	4	0	1	1	6
	18	0	1	1	18
	1	0	0	0	2
	1	0	0	0	0
	1	0	0	0	0
	2	0	0	0	0
	2	0	0	0	0

GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
18	7	13	20	19
18	8	12	20	20
18	2	11	13	8
18	7	5	12	12
18	7	5	12	16
18	4	7	11	10
18	2	9	11	13
18	5	4	9	11
18	4	5	9	12
18	5	3	8	13
18	1	7	8	6
15	4	3	7	8
17	3	4	7	45
18	0	6	6	29
18	0	6	6	20
17	5	0	5	10
7	0	2	2	14
9	2	0	2	4
4	0	0	0	6
2	0	0	0	2

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	80	33	46	79	33
	80	42	36	78	37
	80	34	41	75	56
	59	27	39	66	21
	79	27	36	63	35
	80	20	38	58	35
	60	17	36	53	66
	66	13	34	47	24
	77	8	37	45	86
	77	15	27	42	38
	40	15	21	36	6
	70	6	25	31	37
	71	5	26	31	153
	68	13	16	29	29
	62	11	17	28	26
	76	11	17	28	151
	28	9	17	26	39
	71	1	19	20	61
	30	5	3	8	27
	71	3	5	8	190
‡	6	1	1	2	8
	4	0	1	1	6
	18	0	1	1	18
	1	0	0	0	2
	1	0	0	0	0
	1	0	0	0	0
	2	0	0	0	0
	2	0	0	0	0

GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
18	7	13	20	19
18	8	12	20	20
18	2	11	13	8
18	7	5	12	12
18	7	5	12	16
18	4	7	11	10
18	2	9	11	13
18	5	4	9	11
18	4	5	9	12
18	5	3	8	13
18	1	7	8	6
15	4	3	7	8
17	3	4	7	45
18	0	6	6	29
18	0	6	6	20
17	5	0	5	10
7	0	2	2	14
9	2	0	2	4
4	0	0	0	6
2	0	0	0	2

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	80	33	46	79	33
	80	42	36	78	37
	80	34	41	75	56
	59	27	39	66	21
	79	27	36	63	35
	80	20	38	58	35
	60	17	36	53	66
	66	13	34	47	24
	77	8	37	45	86
	77	15	27	42	38
	40	15	21	36	6
	70	6	25	31	37
	71	5	26	31	153
	68	13	16	29	29
	62	11	17	28	26
	76	11	17	28	151
	28	9	17	26	39
	71	1	19	20	61
	30	5	3	8	27
	71	3	5	8	190
‡	6	1	1	2	8
	4	0	1	1	6
	18	0	1	1	18
	1	0	0	0	2
	1	0	0	0	0
	1	0	0	0	0
	2	0	0	0	0
	2	0	0	0	0

GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
18	7	13	20	19
18	8	12	20	20
18	2	11	13	8
18	7	5	12	12
18	7	5	12	16
18	4	7	11	10
18	2	9	11	13
18	5	4	9	11
18	4	5	9	12
18	5	3	8	13
18	1	7	8	6
15	4	3	7	8
17	3	4	7	45
18	0	6	6	29
18	0	6	6	20
17	5	0	5	10
7	0	2	2	14
9	2	0	2	4
4	0	0	0	6
2	0	0	0	2