1978–79 Quebec Nordiques season

1978–79 Quebec Nordiques
Division	2nd WHA
1978–79 record	41–34–5
Home record	24–13–4
Road record	17–21–1
Goals for	288
Goals against	271
Team information
General manager	Maurice Filion
Coach	Jacques Demers
Captain	Marc Tardif
Alternate captains	Serge Bernier Real Cloutier Bob Fitchner
Arena	Colisée de Québec
Team leaders
Goals	Real Cloutier (75)
Assists	Marc Tardif (55)
Points	Real Cloutier (129)
Penalty minutes	Paul Baxter (240)
Plus/minus	Marc Tardif (+25)
Wins	Richard Brodeur (25)
Goals against average	Richard Brodeur (3.11)

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.

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 Oilers	80	48	30	2	98	340	266	1220
Quebec Nordiques	80	41	34	5	87	288	271	1399
Winnipeg Jets	80	39	35	6	84	307	306	1342
New England Whalers	80	37	34	9	83	298	287	1090
Cincinnati Stingers	80	33	41	6	72	274	284	1651
Birmingham Bulls	80	32	42	6	70	286	311	1661
xIndianapolis Racers	25	5	18	2	12	78	130	557
#Soviet All-Stars	6	4	1	1	9	27	20	77
#Czechoslovakia	6	1	4	1	3	14	33	107
#Finland	1	0	1	0	0	4	8	2

x-team folded during season #-played limited schedule

Schedule and results

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record	Pts
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
11	November 3	Quebec Nordiques	3–2	Birmingham Bulls	5–5–1	11
12	November 4	Quebec Nordiques	3–1	Birmingham Bulls	6–5–1	13
13	November 5	Edmonton Oilers	0–2	Quebec Nordiques	7–5–1	15
14	November 7	Winnipeg Jets	2–1	Quebec Nordiques	7–6–1	15
15	November 8	Edmonton Oilers	6–5	Quebec Nordiques	7–7–1	15
16	November 11	Indianapolis Racers	2–8	Quebec Nordiques	8–7–1	17
17	November 12	Quebec Nordiques	6–4	Winnipeg Jets	9–7–1	19
18	November 15	Winnipeg Jets	2–5	Quebec Nordiques	10–7–1	21
19	November 21	Quebec Nordiques	1–4	Edmonton Oilers	10–8–1	21
20	November 24	Quebec Nordiques	3–4	Edmonton Oilers	10–9–1	21
21	November 26	Winnipeg Jets	2–2	Quebec Nordiques	10–9–2	22
22	November 29	Birmingham Bulls	4–7	Quebec Nordiques	11–9–2	24
23	December 2	Cincinnati Stingers	0–2	Quebec Nordiques	12–9–2	26
24	December 3	Winnipeg Jets	3–5	Quebec Nordiques	13–9–2	28
25	December 6	Edmonton Oilers	3–6	Quebec Nordiques	14–9–2	30
26	December 9	Cincinnati Stingers	3–4	Quebec Nordiques	15–9–2	32
27	December 10	Quebec Nordiques	4–4	Winnipeg Jets	15–9–3	33
28	December 12	Soviet All-Stars	6–3	Quebec Nordiques	15–10–3	33
29	December 14	Birmingham Bulls	2–3	Quebec Nordiques	16–10–3	35
30	December 16	Quebec Nordiques	1–2	New England Whalers	16–11–3	35
31	December 17	New England Whalers	4–4	Quebec Nordiques	16–11–4	36
32	December 22	Quebec Nordiques	5–1	Birmingham Bulls	17–11–4	38
33	December 23	Quebec Nordiques	2–6	Cincinnati Stingers	17–12–4	38
34	December 28	Czechoslovakian All-Stars	0–4	Quebec Nordiques	18–12–4	40
35	December 30	Birmingham Bulls	2–3	Quebec Nordiques	19–12–4	42
36	January 7	Quebec Nordiques	2–3	Winnipeg Jets	19–13–4	42
37	January 9	Quebec Nordiques	4–3	Cincinnati Stingers	20–13–4	44
38	January 12	Quebec Nordiques	2–1	Cincinnati Stingers	21–13–4	46
39	January 18	Quebec Nordiques	4–2	New England Whalers	22–13–4	48
40	January 20	Winnipeg Jets	1–10	Quebec Nordiques	23–13–4	50
41	January 21	Quebec Nordiques	1–3	Winnipeg Jets	23–14–4	50
42	January 23	Quebec Nordiques	7–5	Birmingham Bulls	24–14–4	52
43	January 27	Winnipeg Jets	4–2	Quebec Nordiques	24–15–4	52
44	January 30	Quebec Nordiques	1–2	Birmingham Bulls	24–16–4	52
45	February 1	Quebec Nordiques	5–7	Birmingham Bulls	24–17–4	52
46	February 2	Quebec Nordiques	1–4	New England Whalers	24-18–4	52
47	February 4	Edmonton Oilers	3–6	Quebec Nordiques	25–18–4	54
48	February 6	New England Whalers	5–3	Quebec Nordiques	25–19–4	54
49	February 9	Quebec Nordiques	0–3	Edmonton Oilers	25–20–4	54
50	February 13	Quebec Nordiques	1–6	Edmonton Oilers	25–21–4	54
51	February 17	Quebec Nordiques	1–4	New England Whalers	25–22–4	54
52	February 18	Quebec Nordiques	4–2	Cincinnati Stingers	26–22–4	56
53	February 20	Quebec Nordiques	7–3	Birmingham Bulls	27–22–4	58
54	February 23	Quebec Nordiques	4–5	New England Whalers	27–23–4	58
55	February 24	New England Whalers	0–6	Quebec Nordiques	28–23–4	60
56	February 25	Cincinnati Stingers	1–1	Quebec Nordiques	28–23–5	61
57	March 3	Birmingham Bulls	2–3	Quebec Nordiques	29–23–5	63
58	March 4	Birmingham Bulls	4–5	Quebec Nordiques	30–23–5	65
59	March 6	Edmonton Oilers	3–4	Quebec Nordiques	31–23–5	67
60	March 7	Edmonton Oilers	3–6	Quebec Nordiques	32–23–5	69
61	March 9	Quebec Nordiques	3–1	New England Whalers	33–23–5	71
62	March 10	Quebec Nordiques	2–5	Cincinnati Stingers	33–24–5	71
63	March 11	Quebec Nordiques	2–7	Winnipeg Jets	33–25–5	71
64	March 14	Quebec Nordiques	4-2	Winnipeg Jets	34–25–5	73
65	March 16	Quebec Nordiques	1–6	Edmonton Oilers	34–26–5	73
66	March 18	Quebec Nordiques	7–2	Edmonton Oilers	35–26-5	75
67	March 20	New England Whalers	7–6	Quebec Nordiques	35–27–5	75
68	March 23	Quebec Nordiques	3–5	New England Whalers	35–28–5	75
69	March 24	Quebec Nordiques	5–2	Cincinnati Stingers	36–28–5	77
70	March 25	Birmingham Bulls	2–3	Quebec Nordiques	37–28–5	79
71	March 28	Edmonton Oilers	0-3	Quebec Nordiques	38–28–5	81
72	March 30	Quebec Nordiques	2–0	Winnipeg Jets	39–28–5	83
73	April 1	Winnipeg Jets	7–3	Quebec Nordiques	39–29–5	83
74	April 3	Quebec Nordiques	3–5	Birmingham Bulls	39–30–5	83
75	April 4	Edmonton Oilers	2–4	Quebec Nordiques	40–30–5	85
76	April 7	Quebec Nordiques	2–6	Cincinnati Stingers	40–31–5	85
77	April 10	New England Whalers	5–2	Quebec Nordiques	40–32–5	85
78	April 11	Cincinnati Stingers	6–2	Quebec Nordiques	40–33–5	85
79	April 15	Cincinnati Stingers	2–4	Quebec Nordiques	41–33–5	87
80	April 17	New England Whalers	6–2	Quebec Nordiques	41–34–5	87

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

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
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

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Real Cloutier RW 77 75 54 129 48 23 21 0 0 Marc Tardif LW 74 41 55 96 98 25 12 0 0 Serge Bernier RW 65 36 46 82 71 7 9 3 0 Rich LeDuc C 61 30 32 62 30 -1 12 1 0 Paul Baxter D 76 10 36 46 240 -5 6 0 0 Bob Fitchner C 79 10 35 45 69 -3 1 0 0 J. C. Tremblay D 56 6 38 44 8 10 0 0 0 Garry Lariviere D 50 5 33 38 54 -11 1 0 0 Paulin Bordeleau RW 77 17 12 29 44 1 2 1 0 Alain Cote LW 79 14 13 27 23 -7 0 1 0 Curt Brackenbury RW 70 13 13 26 155 -5 1 0 0 Danny Geoffrion RW 77 12 14 26 74 -2 0 0 0 Francois Lacombe D 78 3 21 24 44 4 0 0 0 Dale Hoganson D 69 2 19 21 17 1 1 0 0 Christian Bordeleau C 16 5 12 17 0 6 0 0 0 Norm Dube LW 36 2 13 15 4 6 0 0 0 Gilles Bilodeau LW 36 3 6 9 141 2 0 0 0 Wally Weir D 68 2 7 9 166 9 0 0 0 Kevin Morrison D 27 2 5 7 14 -2 1 0 0 Richard David LW 14 0 4 4 4 3 0 0 0 Richard Brodeur G 42 0 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 Jim Corsi G 40 0 2 2 20 0 0 0 0 Jim Dorey D 32 0 2 2 17 -5 0 0 0 Pierre Lagace LW 21 0 1 1 12 0 0 0 0 Kevin Devine LW 5 0 0 0 6 -3 0 0 0 Rene Leclerc RW 23 0 0 0 8 -2 0 0 0 Jean-Louis Levasseur G 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T GA GAA SO Richard Brodeur 2433 42 25 13 3 126 3.11 3 Jim Corsi 2291 40 16 20 1 126 3.30 3 Jean-Louis Levasseur 140 3 0 1 1 14 6.00 0 Team: 4864 80 41 34 5 266 3.28 6

Playoffs
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM PPG SHG GWG Marc Tardif LW 4 6 2 8 4 0 0 0 Real Cloutier RW 4 2 2 4 2 0 0 0 Bob Fitchner C 4 1 3 4 0 0 0 0 Danny Geoffrion RW 4 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 Curt Brackenbury RW 4 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 Paul Baxter D 4 0 2 2 7 0 0 0 Rich LeDuc C 4 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 Paulin Bordeleau RW 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 Francois Lacombe D 4 0 1 1 7 0 0 0 Pierre Lagace LW 3 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 Garry Lariviere D 4 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 Wally Weir D 4 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 Serge Bernier RW 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Gilles Bilodeau LW 3 0 0 0 25 0 0 0 Richard Brodeur G 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jim Corsi G 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Alain Cote LW 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Jim Dorey D 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dale Hoganson D 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 Rene Leclerc RW 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jean-Louis Levasseur G 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L GA GAA SO Richard Brodeur 114 3 0 2 14 7.37 0 Jim Corsi 66 2 0 1 7 6.36 0 Jean-Louis Levasseur 59 1 0 1 8 8.14 0 Team: 239 4 0 4 29 7.28 0

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

• 1978–79 WHA season