1988–89 Washington Capitals season

The 1988-89 Washington Capitals season saw the team became the first team other than the Philadelphia Flyers or the New York Islanders to finish in first place in the Patrick Division with a 41-29-10 record for 92 points. However, they lost their first-round playoff match-up to the Philadelphia Flyers, four games to two. This was the first time the Capitals won their division in the regular season and did not do so again until 2000.

1988–89 Washington Capitals
Patrick Division champions
Division	1st Patrick
Conference	2nd Wales
1988–89 record	41-29-10
Goals for	305
Goals against	259
Team information
General manager	David Poile
Coach	Bryan Murray
Captain	Rod Langway
Arena	Capital Centre
Team leaders
Goals	Geoff Courtnall (42)
Assists	Scott Stevens (61)
Points	Mike Ridley (89)
Penalty minutes	Scott Stevens (225)
Plus/minus	Kevin Hatcher (+19)
Wins	Pete Peeters (20)
Goals against average	Pete Peeters (2.85)

Regular season

The Capitals tied the St. Louis Blues for most shutouts in the league, with 6.[1]

Final standings

Patrick Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Washington Capitals	80	41	29	10	305	259	92
Pittsburgh Penguins	80	40	33	7	347	349	87
New York Rangers	80	37	35	8	310	307	82
Philadelphia Flyers	80	36	36	8	307	285	80
New Jersey Devils	80	27	41	12	281	325	66
New York Islanders	80	28	47	5	265	325	61

[2]Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 7, 1988	4–6	Pittsburgh Penguins (1988–89)	0–1–0
2	W	October 8, 1988	6–2	Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	1–1–0
3	L	October 11, 1988	7–8	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1988–89)	1–2–0
4	L	October 14, 1988	1–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1988–89)	1–3–0
5	W	October 15, 1988	8–5	New Jersey Devils (1988–89)	2–3–0
6	L	October 19, 1988	1–5	@ New York Rangers (1988–89)	2–4–0
7	L	October 21, 1988	1–4	New York Rangers (1988–89)	2–5–0
8	L	October 23, 1988	2–3	@ Winnipeg Jets (1988–89)	2–6–0
9	W	October 25, 1988	4–3 OT	@ Vancouver Canucks (1988–89)	3–6–0
10	T	October 28, 1988	2–2 OT	@ Calgary Flames (1988–89)	3–6–1
11	L	October 29, 1988	3–4 OT	@ Edmonton Oilers (1988–89)	3–7–1
12	T	November 1, 1988	3–3 OT	@ Detroit Red Wings (1988–89)	3–7–2
13	W	November 4, 1988	4–2	New York Islanders (1988–89)	4–7–2
14	L	November 5, 1988	3–4 OT	@ New York Islanders (1988–89)	4–8–2
15	W	November 10, 1988	4–1	Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	5–8–2
16	L	November 12, 1988	3–6	New Jersey Devils (1988–89)	5–9–2
17	W	November 15, 1988	4–2	Minnesota North Stars (1988–89)	6–9–2
18	W	November 18, 1988	3–2	Hartford Whalers (1988–89)	7–9–2
19	W	November 19, 1988	3–2	@ New Jersey Devils (1988–89)	8–9–2
20	W	November 22, 1988	4–2	@ New York Islanders (1988–89)	9–9–2
21	W	November 23, 1988	7–6	New York Islanders (1988–89)	10–9–2
22	L	November 25, 1988	3–5	Pittsburgh Penguins (1988–89)	10–10–2
23	W	November 27, 1988	4–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1988–89)	11–10–2
24	W	November 29, 1988	4–3	St. Louis Blues (1988–89)	12–10–2
25	L	November 30, 1988	4–6	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1988–89)	12–11–2
26	T	December 3, 1988	1–1 OT	Boston Bruins (1988–89)	12–11–3
27	W	December 6, 1988	4–3	Philadelphia Flyers (1988–89)	13–11–3
28	L	December 7, 1988	1–5	@ New Jersey Devils (1988–89)	13–12–3
29	T	December 10, 1988	0–0 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	13–12–4
30	W	December 11, 1988	6–4	@ Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	14–12–4
31	W	December 13, 1988	4–1	@ Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	15–12–4
32	L	December 15, 1988	1–4	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1988–89)	15–13–4
33	W	December 17, 1988	6–3	Winnipeg Jets (1988–89)	16–13–4
34	L	December 19, 1988	1–3	@ New York Rangers (1988–89)	16–14–4
35	W	December 21, 1988	4–3	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1988–89)	17–14–4
36	T	December 23, 1988	2–2 OT	New York Rangers (1988–89)	17–14–5
37	W	December 27, 1988	4–3	Philadelphia Flyers (1988–89)	18–14–5
38	W	December 30, 1988	5–3	Buffalo Sabres (1988–89)	19–14–5
39	L	December 31, 1988	4–6	@ New York Islanders (1988–89)	19–15–5
40	W	January 2, 1989	8–0	Pittsburgh Penguins (1988–89)	20–15–5
41	T	January 4, 1989	3–3 OT	@ New York Rangers (1988–89)	20–15–6
42	W	January 6, 1989	3–0	Toronto Maple Leafs (1988–89)	21–15–6
43	W	January 7, 1989	6–3	Chicago Blackhawks (1988–89)	22–15–6
44	T	January 10, 1989	4–4 OT	@ Quebec Nordiques (1988–89)	22–15–7
45	W	January 11, 1989	3–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1988–89)	23–15–7
46	W	January 13, 1989	5–3	Edmonton Oilers (1988–89)	24–15–7
47	L	January 15, 1989	3–4	Boston Bruins (1988–89)	24–16–7
48	L	January 20, 1989	5–6 OT	New Jersey Devils (1988–89)	24–17–7
49	L	January 22, 1989	3–4	Detroit Red Wings (1988–89)	24–18–7
50	T	January 24, 1989	4–4 OT	Los Angeles Kings (1988–89)	24–18–8
51	W	January 26, 1989	1–0	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1988–89)	25–18–8
52	T	January 28, 1989	4–4 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (1988–89)	25–18–9
53	T	January 30, 1989	4–4 OT	@ Minnesota North Stars (1988–89)	25–18–10
54	W	February 1, 1989	4–3 OT	@ New York Rangers (1988–89)	26–18–10
55	W	February 3, 1989	1–0	Hartford Whalers (1988–89)	27–18–10
56	L	February 5, 1989	1–3	Philadelphia Flyers (1988–89)	27–19–10
57	L	February 10, 1989	6–7 OT	Los Angeles Kings (1988–89)	27–20–10
58	L	February 11, 1989	1–2	Calgary Flames (1988–89)	27–21–10
59	W	February 14, 1989	5–3	@ St. Louis Blues (1988–89)	28–21–10
60	L	February 15, 1989	4–7	@ Chicago Blackhawks (1988–89)	28–22–10
61	W	February 17, 1989	8–2	@ Edmonton Oilers (1988–89)	29–22–10
62	L	February 19, 1989	2–3	@ Vancouver Canucks (1988–89)	29–23–10
63	L	February 20, 1989	2–6	@ Calgary Flames (1988–89)	29–24–10
64	W	February 22, 1989	7–2	@ Los Angeles Kings (1988–89)	30–24–10
65	L	February 28, 1989	3–4	Minnesota North Stars (1988–89)	30–25–10
66	W	March 3, 1989	4–2	Pittsburgh Penguins (1988–89)	31–25–10
67	W	March 5, 1989	3–0	Vancouver Canucks (1988–89)	32–25–10
68	L	March 8, 1989	2–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	32–26–10
69	W	March 9, 1989	7–2	@ Boston Bruins (1988–89)	33–26–10
70	W	March 11, 1989	4–2	New York Rangers (1988–89)	34–26–10
71	W	March 14, 1989	6–3	Winnipeg Jets (1988–89)	35–26–10
72	W	March 17, 1989	4–1	Montreal Canadiens (1988–89)	36–26–10
73	W	March 18, 1989	8–2	@ Hartford Whalers (1988–89)	37–26–10
74	W	March 22, 1989	5–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1988–89)	38–26–10
75	W	March 24, 1989	6–1	Philadelphia Flyers (1988–89)	39–26–10
76	W	March 26, 1989	3–2	New York Islanders (1988–89)	40–26–10
77	L	March 28, 1989	4–5	@ New York Islanders (1988–89)	40–27–10
78	L	March 30, 1989	4–5	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1988–89)	40–28–10
79	W	April 1, 1989	6–4	New Jersey Devils (1988–89)	41–28–10
80	L	April 2, 1989	4–7	@ New Jersey Devils (1988–89)	41–29–10

Playoffs

Round 1: (P1) Washington Capitals vs. (P4) Philadelphia Flyers

April 5

Philadelphia Flyers

2–3

Washington Capitals

Capital Centre

April 6

Philadelphia Flyers

3–2

Washington Capitals

Capital Centre

April 8

Washington Capitals

4–3

OT

Philadelphia Flyers

Spectrum

April 9

Washington Capitals

2–5

Philadelphia Flyers

Spectrum

April 11

Philadelphia Flyers

8–5

Washington Capitals

Capital Centre

April 13

Washington Capitals

3–4

Philadelphia Flyers

Spectrum

Philadelphia won series 4–2

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Mike Ridley	C	80	41	48	89	49	17	16	0	9
Geoff Courtnall	LW	79	42	38	80	112	11	16	0	6
Bengt-Ake Gustafsson	RW	72	18	51	69	18	13	5	4	6
Scott Stevens	D	80	7	61	68	225	1	6	0	3
Dave Christian	RW	80	34	31	65	12	2	16	1	1
Dale Hunter	C	80	20	37	57	219	-3	9	0	3
Mike Gartner	RW	56	26	29	55	71	8	6	0	1
Kelly Miller	LW	78	19	21	40	45	13	2	1	3
Kevin Hatcher	D	62	13	27	40	101	19	3	0	2
Larry Murphy	D	65	7	29	36	70	-5	3	0	0
Stephen Leach	RW	74	11	19	30	94	-4	4	0	0
Michal Pivonka	C	52	8	19	27	30	9	1	0	1
Rod Langway	D	76	2	19	21	65	12	0	0	0
Bobby Gould	RW	75	5	13	18	65	-2	0	1	0
Lou Franceschetti	RW	63	7	10	17	123	-4	0	0	0
Dino Ciccarelli	RW	11	12	3	15	12	10	3	0	3
John Druce	RW	48	8	7	15	62	7	0	0	1
Grant Ledyard	D	61	3	11	14	43	1	1	0	1
Mike Millar	RW	18	6	3	9	4	-4	3	0	1
Calle Johansson	D	12	1	7	8	4	1	1	0	0
Chris Felix	D	21	0	8	8	8	7	0	0	0
Neil Sheehy	D	72	3	4	7	179	-1	0	0	0
Doug Wickenheiser	C	16	2	5	7	4	0	1	0	0
Peter Sundstrom	LW	35	4	2	6	12	-5	0	0	0
Yvon Corriveau	LW	33	3	2	5	62	0	0	0	0
Bill Houlder	D	8	0	3	3	4	7	0	0	0
Jim Thomson	RW	14	2	0	2	53	-3	0	0	0
Bob Rouse	D	13	0	2	2	36	2	0	0	0
Kent Carlson	D	2	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	0
Scot Kleinendorst	D	3	0	1	1	10	0	0	0	0
Clint Malarchuk	G	42	0	1	1	16	0	0	0	0
Pete Peeters	G	35	0	1	1	8	0	0	0	0
Don Beaupre	G	11	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	0
Shawn Cronin	D	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Pete Peeters	1854	33	20	7	3	88	2.85	4	790	702	.889
Clint Malarchuk	2428	42	16	18	7	141	3.48	1	1145	1004	.877
Don Beaupre	578	11	5	4	0	28	2.91	1	269	241	.896
Team:	4860	80	41	29	10	257	3.17	6	2204	1947	.883

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG
Geoff Courtnall	LW	6	2	5	7	12	1	0	0
Dino Ciccarelli	RW	6	3	3	6	12	3	0	0
Bengt-Ake Gustafsson	RW	4	2	3	5	6	1	0	0
Kevin Hatcher	D	6	1	4	5	20	1	0	0
Scott Stevens	D	6	1	4	5	11	0	0	0
Mike Ridley	C	6	0	5	5	2	0	0	0
Michal Pivonka	C	6	3	1	4	10	0	1	0
Dale Hunter	C	6	0	4	4	29	0	0	0
Calle Johansson	D	6	1	2	3	0	1	0	0
Bob Rouse	D	6	2	0	2	4	0	0	0
Dave Christian	RW	6	1	1	2	0	1	0	0
Bobby Gould	RW	6	0	2	2	0	0	0	0
Lou Franceschetti	RW	6	1	0	1	8	0	0	1
Stephen Leach	RW	6	1	0	1	12	1	0	0
Kelly Miller	LW	6	1	0	1	2	0	0	1
Chris Felix	D	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
Yvon Corriveau	LW	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
John Druce	RW	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rod Langway	D	6	0	0	0	6	0	0	0
Pete Peeters	G	6	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Neil Sheehy	D	6	0	0	0	19	0	0	0
Doug Wickenheiser	C	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Pete Peeters	359	6	2	4	24	4.01	0	164	140	.854
Team:	359	6	2	4	24	4.01	0	164	140	.854

[3]

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; SA=Shots Against; SV=Shots saved; SV% = Save Percentage;

Draft picks

Washington's draft picks at the 1988 NHL Entry Draft held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	15	Reggie Savage	Canada	Victoriaville Tigres (QMJHL)
2	36	Tim Taylor	Canada	London Knights (OHL)
2	41	Wade Bartley	Canada	Dauphin Kings (MJHL)
3	57	Duane Derksen	Canada	Winkler Flyers (MJHL)
4	78	Rob Krauss	Canada	Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
6	120	Dmitri Khristich	Soviet Union	Sokil Kyiv (USSR)
7	141	Keith Jones	Canada	Niagara Falls Canucks (NDJBHL)
7	144	Brad Schlegel	Canada	London Knights (WHL)
8	162	Todd Hilditch	Canada	Penticton Knights (BCJHL)
9	183	Petr Pavlas	Czechoslovakia	Dukla Trencin (Czechoslovakia)
10	192	Mark Sorensen	Canada	University of Michigan (CCHA)
10	204	Claudio Scremin	Canada	University of Maine (Hockey East)
11	225	Chris Venkus	United States	Western Michigan University (CCHA)
12	246	Ron Pascucci	United States	Belmont Hill School (USHS-MA)
S	20	Harry Mews	Canada	Northeastern University (Hockey East)

References

1. https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1989_games.html
2. Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 153. ISBN 9781894801225.
3. "1988-89 Washington Capitals Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-06-01.