1987–88 Chicago Blackhawks season

1987–88 Chicago Blackhawks
Division	3rd Norris
1987–88 record	30–41–9
Goals for	284
Goals against	328
Team information
General Manager	Bob Pulford
Coach	Bob Murdoch
Captain	Vacant
Alternate captains	Keith Brown Steve Larmer Troy Murray Denis Savard
Team leaders
<1986–87 1988–89>

Offseason

The 1987–88 Chicago Black Hawks were coming off a year in which they finished third in the Norris Division and got swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings. The Hawks made several moves in the offseason with GM Bob Pulford replacing himself as coach with Bob Murdoch and trading young star Eddie Olczyk and old star Al Secord to the Tornoto Maple Leafs for wingers Rick Vaive and Steve Thomas and defenseman Bob McGill. The Blackhawks also acquired Duane Sutter for a 1988 2nd round pick.

Regular season

The Blackhawks were a streaky team - winning five in row in October, followed by 7 straight without a win, then won five of the next seven, then lost eight straight. The up and down season ended on the down with the Hawks going winless in their last eight games of the season. They would finish the season 30-41-9 (69 Points) - good for 3rd Place in the Norris Division.

Offensively, the Blackhawks were again led by Denis Savard, who had an outstanding season leading the team in scoring for the seventh year in a row with team highs of 44 goals, 87 assists and 131 points (which ranked third in the league behind Lemieux and Gretzky). Steve Larmer was again second in points with 41 goals and 48 assists. Offseason acquisition Rick Vaive was second in goals with 43, and mid-season addition, Dirk Graham had 37 points in his half-season with the Hawks. On defense, Doug Wilson again led the club with 32 points, with Keith Brown leading in the club in plus/minus with +5. Gary Nyland led the team in penalty minutes with 208.

In goal, rookie Darren Pang took over in the net with a 3.48 GAA and a 17-23-1 record in 45 games. Bob Mason served as back-up with a 4.15 GAA and 13-18-8 record in 41 games.

Final standings

Norris Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Detroit Red Wings	80	41	28	11	322	269	93
St. Louis Blues	80	34	38	8	278	294	76
Chicago Blackhawks	80	30	41	9	284	328	69
Toronto Maple Leafs	80	21	49	10	273	345	52
Minnesota North Stars	80	19	48	13	242	349	51

^[1]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	Game Winning/Tying Goal	Record
1	L	October 8, 1987	5–7	Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)	Gill, ToddTodd Gill	0–1–0
2	L	October 10, 1987	4–6	@ Washington Capitals (1987–88)	Laughlin, CraigCraig Laughlin	0–2–0
3	W	October 11, 1987	5–3	Philadelphia Flyers (1987–88)	Murray, TroyTroy Murray	1–2–0
4	W	October 14, 1987	5–3	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Wilson, DougDoug Wilson	2–2–0
5	W	October 17, 1987	3–2	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Savard, DenisDenis Savard	3–2–0
6	W	October 18, 1987	6–4	Winnipeg Jets (1987–88)	Savard, DenisDenis Savard	4–2–0
7	W	October 21, 1987	5–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)	Ludzik, SteveSteve Ludzik	5–2–0
8	L	October 23, 1987	3–7	@ New York Rangers (1987–88)	Sandstrom, TomasTomas Sandstrom	5–3–0
9	L	October 24, 1987	3–5	@ Hartford Whalers (1987–88)	Dineen, KevinKevin Dineen	5–4–0
10	T	October 27, 1987	4–4 OT	@ New York Islanders (1987–88)	Kromm, RichardRichard Kromm	5–4–1
11	L	October 31, 1987	5–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)	Terrion, GregGreg Terrion	5–5–1
12	L	November 1, 1987	3–5	@ Buffalo Sabres (1987–88)	Foligno, MikeMike Foligno	5–6–1
13	T	November 4, 1987	4–4 OT	Montreal Canadiens (1987–88)	Wilson, DougDoug Wilson	5–6–2
14	L	November 6, 1987	3–6	@ Winnipeg Jets (1987–88)	Steen, ThomasThomas Steen	5–7–2
15	W	November 8, 1987	8–5	Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)	Vaive, RickRick Vaive	6–7–2
16	W	November 11, 1987	6–3	Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)	Presley, WayneWayne Presley	7–7–2
17	L	November 14, 1987	0–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1987–88)	Nilan, ChrisChris Nilan	7–8–2
18	W	November 15, 1987	5–4	Edmonton Oilers (1987–88)	Murray, TroyTroy Murray	8–8–2
19	W	November 18, 1987	5–2	Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)	Noonan, BrianBrian Noonan	9–8–2
20	L	November 20, 1987	2–5	@ New Jersey Devils (1987–88)	McPhee, GeorgeGeorge McPhee	9–9–2
21	W	November 22, 1987	3–2	Vancouver Canucks (1987–88)	Vaive, RickRick Vaive	10–9–2
22	L	November 25, 1987	4–6	@ Los Angeles Kings (1987–88)	Taylor, DaveDave Taylor	10–10–2
23	L	November 27, 1987	3–4	@ Edmonton Oilers (1987–88)	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	10–11–2
24	L	November 30, 1987	0–4	@ Calgary Flames (1987–88)	Otto, JoelJoel Otto	10–12–2
25	L	December 2, 1987	1–5	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Flockhart, RonRon Flockhart	10–13–2
26	L	December 4, 1987	0–12	@ Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)	Higgins, TimTim Higgins	10–14–2
27	L	December 5, 1987	3–7	@ Boston Bruins (1987–88)	Sweeney, BobBob Sweeney	10–15–2
28	L	December 9, 1987	2–6	Buffalo Sabres (1987–88)	Cyr, PaulPaul Cyr	10–16–2
29	L	December 12, 1987	1–2	@ Washington Capitals (1987–88)	Gartner, MikeMike Gartner	10–17–2
30	W	December 13, 1987	5–1	Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)	Vaive, RickRick Vaive	11–17–2
31	W	December 16, 1987	4–2	@ Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)	Savard, DenisDenis Savard	12–17–2
32	W	December 19, 1987	6–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)	Fraser, CurtCurt Fraser	13–17–2
33	L	December 20, 1987	2–4	Boston Bruins (1987–88)	Sweeney, BobBob Sweeney	13–18–2
34	W	December 23, 1987	7–5	New York Islanders (1987–88)	Mackey, DavidDavid Mackey	14–18–2
35	L	December 26, 1987	4–5	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Federko, BernieBernie Federko	14–19–2
36	L	December 27, 1987	2–3	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Benning, BrianBrian Benning	14–20–2
37	L	December 30, 1987	4–6	Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)	Ciccarelli, DinoDino Ciccarelli	14–21–2
38	W	December 31, 1987	4–1	@ Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)	Wilson, RikRik Wilson	15–21–2
39	L	January 3, 1988	3–5	Calgary Flames (1987–88)	Mullen, JoeJoe Mullen	15–22–2
40	L	January 6, 1988	1–6	Quebec Nordiques (1987–88)	Carkner, TerryTerry Carkner	15–23–2
41	W	January 8, 1988	7–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)	Vaive, RickRick Vaive	16–23–2
42	W	January 10, 1988	5–2	Los Angeles Kings (1987–88)	McGill, BobBob McGill	17–23–2
43	T	January 11, 1988	2–2 OT	@ New York Rangers (1987–88)	Murray, TroyTroy Murray	17–23–3
44	W	January 13, 1988	2–1	Hartford Whalers (1987–88)	Thomas, SteveSteve Thomas	18–23–3
45	L	January 16, 1988	1–4	@ Quebec Nordiques (1987–88)	Brown, JeffJeff Brown	18–24–3
46	W	January 17, 1988	5–4	Washington Capitals (1987–88)	Savard, DenisDenis Savard	19–24–3
47	L	January 20, 1988	3–8	Pittsburgh Penguins (1987–88)	Lemieux, MarioMario Lemieux	19–25–3
48	W	January 23, 1988	3–2	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)	Stapleton, MikeMike Stapleton	20–25–3
49	W	January 24, 1988	3–1	Vancouver Canucks (1987–88)	Thomas, SteveSteve Thomas	21–25–3
50	W	January 26, 1988	6–4	@ Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)	Savard, DenisDenis Savard	22–25–3
51	L	January 29, 1988	2–3 OT	@ New Jersey Devils (1987–88)	Wolanin, CraigCraig Wolanin	22–26–3
52	L	January 30, 1988	2–4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1987–88)	Kachowski, MarkMark Kachowski	22–27–3
53	L	February 1, 1988	3–5	Boston Bruins (1987–88)	Sweeney, BobBob Sweeney	22–28–3
54	L	February 3, 1988	4–6	Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)	Oates, AdamAdam Oates	22–29–3
55	T	February 5, 1988	1–1 OT	@ Winnipeg Jets (1987–88)	Thomas, SteveSteve Thomas	22–29–4
56	T	February 7, 1988	5–5 OT	@ Quebec Nordiques (1987–88)	Murray, BobBob Murray	22–29–5
57	W	February 12, 1988	4–3 OT	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Vaive, RickRick Vaive	23–29–5
58	W	February 14, 1988	4–3 OT	Buffalo Sabres (1987–88)	Thomas, SteveSteve Thomas	24–29–5
59	L	February 17, 1988	3–4	Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)	Burr, ShawnShawn Burr	24–30–5
60	L	February 20, 1988	1–6	@ Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)	Burr, ShawnShawn Burr	24–31–5
61	T	February 21, 1988	3–3 OT	Calgary Flames (1987–88)	Savard, DenisDenis Savard	24–31–6
62	W	February 24, 1988	6–4	Edmonton Oilers (1987–88)	Graham, DirkDirk Graham	25–31–6
63	T	February 25, 1988	1–1 OT	@ New York Islanders (1987–88)	Kerr, AlanAlan Kerr	25–31–7
64	W	February 28, 1988	7–5	Pittsburgh Penguins (1987–88)	Vaive, RickRick Vaive	26–31–7
65	L	March 2, 1988	1–2	Hartford Whalers (1987–88)	Ladouceur, RandyRandy Ladouceur	26–32–7
66	W	March 5, 1988	4–2	@ Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)	Noonan, BrianBrian Noonan	27–32–7
67	L	March 6, 1988	3–4	Detroit Red Wings (1987–88)	Bridgman, MelMel Bridgman	27–33–7
68	W	March 9, 1988	4–3	Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)	Brown, KeithKeith Brown	28–33–7
69	L	March 12, 1988	4–6	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1987–88)	Gill, ToddTodd Gill	28–34–7
70	W	March 13, 1988	5–4 OT	Philadelphia Flyers (1987–88)	Graham, DirkDirk Graham	29–34–7
71	T	March 15, 1988	7–7 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Raglan, HerbHerb Raglan	29–34–8
72	W	March 17, 1988	4–3 OT	@ Philadelphia Flyers (1987–88)	Savard, DenisDenis Savard	30–34–8
73	L	March 19, 1988	0–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1987–88)	Skrudland, BrianBrian Skrudland	30–35–8
74	L	March 20, 1988	2–5	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Cavallini, GinoGino Cavallini	30–36–8
75	L	March 23, 1988	4–5	Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)	Schreiber, WallyWally Schreiber	30–37–8
76	L	March 25, 1988	2–3	@ Vancouver Canucks (1987–88)	Benning, JimJim Benning	30–38–8
77	L	March 26, 1988	5–9	@ Los Angeles Kings (1987–88)	Carpenter, BobbyBobby Carpenter	30–39–8
78	T	March 28, 1988	7–7 OT	@ Minnesota North Stars (1987–88)	Presley, WayneWayne Presley	30–39–9
79	L	March 30, 1988	3–4	New York Rangers (1987–88)	Dahlen, UlfUlf Dahlen	30–40–9
80	L	April 3, 1988	3–4 OT	New Jersey Devils (1987–88)	MacLean, JohnJohn MacLean	30–41–9

Playoffs

The Hawks faced Brett Hull and the St. Louis Blues, who finished second in the Norris. After the Blackhawks had been swept two years in a row in the first round, they opened the series in St Louis by getting swept by scores of 4-1 and 3-2. The series moved to the Chicago Stadium where the Hawks would break their playoff losing streak with a 6-3 victory. The winning ways did not last though, as the Hawks would drop the next two games - 6-5 and 5-3.

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Game Winning Goal	Record
1	L	April 6, 1988	1-4	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Hull, BrettBrett Hull	0-1
2	L	April 7, 1988	2-3	@ St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Hull, BrettBrett Hull	0-2
3	W	April 9, 1988	6–3	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Savard, DenisDenis Savard	1-2
4	L	April 10, 1988	5-6	St. Louis Blues (1987–88)	Hrkac, TonyTony Hrkac	1-3
4	L	April 12, 1988	3-5	@ St. Louis Blues (1987-88)	Hull, BrettBrett Hull	1-4

Player stats

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Savard, DenisDenis Savard	C	80	44	87	131	95	4	14	7	6
Larmer, SteveSteve Larmer	RW	80	41	48	89	42	-5	21	7	0
Vaive, RickRick Vaive	RW	76	43	26	69	108	-20	19	0	6
Murray, TroyTroy Murray	C	79	22	36	58	96	-17	3	2	2
Graham, DirkDirk Graham	W	42	17	19	36	32	4	6	1	2
Wilson, DougDoug Wilson	D	27	8	24	32	28	-17	6	1	1
Noonan, BrianBrian Noonan	RW	77	10	20	30	44	-27	3	0	2
Wilson, BehnBehn Wilson	D	58	6	23	29	166	-19	3	0	0
Thomas, SteveSteve Thomas	LW	30	13	13	26	40	1	5	0	3
Murray, BobBob Murray	D	62	6	20	26	44	-7	1	0	0
Presley, WayneWayne Presley	RW	42	12	10	22	52	-13	4	0	1
Ludzik, SteveSteve Ludzik	C	73	6	15	21	40	-14	1	0	1
Sanipass, EverettEverett Sanipass	LW	57	8	12	20	126	-9	0	0	0
Nylund, GaryGary Nylund	D	76	4	15	19	208	-9	0	0	0
Vincelette, DanDan Vincelette	LW	69	6	11	17	109	-15	2	0	0
Sutter, DuaneDuane Sutter	RW	37	7	9	16	70	2	3	0	0
Cassidy, BruceBruce Cassidy	D	21	3	10	13	6	-3	2	0	0
McGill, BobBob McGill	D	67	4	7	11	131	-19	0	0	1
Stapleton, MikeMike Stapleton	C	53	2	9	11	59	-10	0	0	1
Fraser, CurtCurt Fraser	LW	27	4	6	10	57	-13	1	0	1
Yawney, TrentTrent Yawney	D	15	2	8	10	15	1	2	0	0
Wilson, RikRik Wilson	D	14	4	5	9	6	4	0	0	1
Brown, KeithKeith Brown	D	24	3	6	9	45	5	0	0	1
Cochrane, GlenGlen Cochrane	D	73	1	8	9	204	-7	0	0	0
Bergevin, MarcMarc Bergevin	D	58	1	6	7	85	-19	0	0	0
Manson, DaveDave Manson	D	54	1	6	7	185	-12	0	0	0
Pang, DarrenDarren Pang	G	45	0	6	6	2	0	0	0	0
Mackey, DavidDavid Mackey	LW	23	1	3	4	71	-14	0	0	1
Playfair, JimJim Playfair	D	12	1	3	4	21	4	1	0	0
Watson, BillBill Watson	RW	9	2	0	2	0	-5	0	0	0
LaVarre, MarkMark LaVarre	RW	18	1	1	2	25	-8	0	0	0
Mason, BobBob Mason	G	41	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
Gardner, BillBill Gardner	C	2	1	0	1	2	-1	1	0	0
Paynter, KentKent Paynter	D	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Pang, DarrenDarren Pang	2548	45	17	23	1	163	3.84	0	1501	1338	.891
Mason, BobBob Mason	2312	41	13	18	8	160	4.15	0	1353	1193	.882
Team:	4860	80	30	41	9	323	3.99	0	2854	2531	.887

Playoffs

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Vaive, RickRick Vaive	RW	5	6	2	8	38	1	5	0	0
Savard, DenisDenis Savard	C	5	4	3	7	17	3	0	1	1
Larmer, SteveSteve Larmer	RW	5	1	6	7	0	1	1	0	0
Murray, BobBob Murray	D	5	1	3	4	2	-1	1	0	0
Yawney, TrentTrent Yawney	D	5	0	4	4	8	1	0	0	0
Graham, DirkDirk Graham	W	4	1	2	3	4	-1	0	0	0
Thomas, SteveSteve Thomas	LW	3	1	2	3	6	1	0	0	0
Sanipass, EverettEverett Sanipass	LW	2	2	0	2	2	0	0	0	0
Brown, KeithKeith Brown	D	5	0	2	2	10	-3	0	0	0
Murray, TroyTroy Murray	C	5	1	0	1	8	-4	1	0	0
Ludzik, SteveSteve Ludzik	C	5	0	1	1	13	0	0	0	0
Cochrane, GlenGlen Cochrane	D	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
LaVarre, MarkMark LaVarre	RW	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Manson, DaveDave Manson	D	5	0	0	0	27	1	0	0	0
Mason, BobBob Mason	G	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
McGill, BobBob McGill	D	3	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0
Noonan, BrianBrian Noonan	RW	3	0	0	0	4	-1	0	0	0
Nylund, GaryGary Nylund	D	5	0	0	0	10	-1	0	0	0
Pang, DarrenDarren Pang	G	4	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Presley, WayneWayne Presley	RW	5	0	0	0	4	4	0	0	0
Rucinski, MikeMike Rucinski	C	2	0	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0
Sutter, DuaneDuane Sutter	RW	5	0	0	0	21	-1	0	0	0
Vincelette, DanDan Vincelette	LW	4	0	0	0	0	-2	0	0	0
Wilson, BehnBehn Wilson	D	3	0	0	0	6	-2	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Pang, DarrenDarren Pang	240	4	1	3	18	4.50	0	130	112	.862
Mason, BobBob Mason	60	1	0	1	3	3.00	0	31	28	.903
Team:	300	5	1	4	21	4.20	0	161	140	.870

^[2]

Note: Pos = Position; 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;

See also

• 1987–88 NHL season

References

1. Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 153. ISBN 9781894801225.
2. "1987-88 Chicago Blackhawks Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". hockey-reference.com. Retrieved 2009-06-16.

2. 1988-89 Chicago Blackhawks Yearbook (official team publication)

External links

• "1987–88 Chicago Blackhawks Games". Hockey-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-11. Retrieved 2016-05-03.