1978–79 Quebec Nordiques season

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

Schedule and results

|- | 1 || October 15 || New England Whalers || 6–5 || Quebec Nordiques || 0–1–0 || 0 |- | 2 || October 17 || Cincinnati Stingers || 5–5 || Quebec Nordiques || 0–1–1 || 1 |- | 3 || October 18 || Indianapolis Racers || 4–0 || Quebec Nordiques || 0–2–1 || 1 |- | 4 || October 21 || Quebec Nordiques || 1–7 || New England Whalers || 0–3–1 || 1 |- | 5 || October 22 || Birmingham Bulls || 8–5 || Quebec Nordiques || 0–4–1 || 1 |- | 6 || October 25 || Cincinnati Stingers || 3–4 || Quebec Nordiques || 1–4–1 || 3 |- | 7 || October 26 || New England Whalers || 5–8 || Quebec Nordiques || 2–4–1 || 5 |- | 8 || October 28 || Quebec Nordiques || 3–4 || Cincinnati Stingers || 2–5–1 || 5 |- | 9 || October 29 || Quebec Nordiques || 6–2 || Edmonton Oilers || 3–5–1 || 7 |- |10 || October 31 || Quebec Nordiques || 5–4 || Edmonton Oilers || 4–5–1 || 9

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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.

|- | 1 || April 23 || Winnipeg Jets || 6–3 || Quebec Nordiques || 0–1 |- | 2 || April 25 || Winnipeg Jets || 9–2 || Quebec Nordiques || 0–2 |- | 3 || April 27 || Quebec Nordiques || 5–9 || Winnipeg Jets || 0–3 |- | 4 || April 29 || Quebec Nordiques || 2–6 || Winnipeg Jets || 0–4

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Player statistics

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References

References

1. "1978-79 Quebec Nordiques Schedule".
2. "1978-79 Quebec Nordiques Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com.