1988–89 Boston Bruins season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	1988–89
Year:	1988
Team:	Boston Bruins
Conferencerank:	3rd
Divisionrank:	2nd
Record:	37-29-14
Goalsfor:	289
Goalsagainst:	256
Goalsleader:	Cam Neely (37)
Assistsleader:	Craig Janney (46)
Pointsleader:	Cam Neely (75)
Pimleader:	Lyndon Byers (218)
Winsleader:	Réjean Lemelin (19)
Gaaleader:	Rejean Lemelin (3.01)

The 1988–89 Boston Bruins season saw the team finish in second place in the Adams Division with a record of 37 wins, 29 losses, and 14 ties for 88 points. They defeated the Buffalo Sabres in five games in the Division Semi-finals before falling to the Montreal Canadiens in the Division Finals, also in five games.

Regular season

On November 24, 1988, Bob Sweeney scored just 8 seconds into the overtime period to give the Bruins a 2–1 home win over the Philadelphia Flyers.^[1] It would prove to be the fastest overtime goal scored during the 1988–89 NHL regular season.^[2]

The Bruins allowed the fewest short-handed goals in the league, with just 4.^[3]

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

Regular season schedule

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

Playoffs

Adams Division Semifinals

Boston Bruins 4, Buffalo Sabres 1

	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	April 5		6–0	Boston Bruins	0–1
2	April 6		3–5	Boston Bruins	1–1
3	April 8	Boston Bruins	4–2		2–1
4	April 9	Boston Bruins	3–2		3–1
5	April 11		1–4	Boston Bruins	4–1

Adams Division Finals

Montreal Canadiens 4, Boston Bruins 1

	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Record
1	April 17	Boston Bruins	2–3		0–1
2	April 19	Boston Bruins	2–3 (OT)		0–2
3	April 21		5–4	Boston Bruins	0–3
4	April 23		2–3	Boston Bruins	1–3
5	April 25	Boston Bruins	2–3		1–4

Player statistics

Forwards

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	74	37	38	75	190
	78	27	45	72	164
	62	16	46	62	12
	80	31	30	61	39
	77	18	31	49	46
	71	13	22	35	20
	69	15	18	33	147
	75	14	14	28	99
	49	10	16	26	49
	44	12	10	22	24
	57	11	9	20	32
	18	5	9	14	10
	26	4	2	6	10
	37	2	4	6	168
	14	1	3	4	28
	49	0	4	4	218
	19	1	2	3	8
	5	0	2	2	0
	7	2	0	2	0
	8	0	1	1	17
	4	0	0	0	0
	12	0	0	0	33
	7	0	0	0	31
	7	0	0	0	4

Defensemen

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	60	18	43	61	52
	77	19	35	54	61
	56	16	24	40	84
	78	8	22	30	80
	40	3	18	21	71
	36	3	5	8	20
	51	0	6	6	69
	31	2	3	5	51
	29	1	3	4	44
	26	0	1	1	29
	3	0	1	1	2
	1	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Player	GP	W	L	T	SO	GAA
	40	19	15	6	0	3.01
	41	18	14	8	1	3.22

Awards and records

• Ray Bourque, Defence, NHL Second All-Star Team

Draft picks

Boston's draft picks at the 1988 NHL Entry Draft held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal.

Round		Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	19	Robert Cimetta		Toronto Marlboros (OHL)
3	60	Steve Heinze		Lawrence Academy (USHS-MA)
4	81	Joe Juneau		Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (ECAC)
5	102	Daniel Murphy		The Gunnery (USHS-CT)
6	123	Derek Geary		Gloucester High School (USHS-MA)
8	165	Mark Krys		Boston University (Hockey East)
9	186	Jon Rohloff		Grand Rapids High School (USHS-MA)
11	228	Eric Reisman		Ohio State University (CCHA)
12	249	Doug Jones		Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
S	23	Chris Harvey		Brown University (ECAC)

Notes and References

1. News: N.H.L.; Bruins Halt Seven-Game Skid. The New York Times. 25 November 1988.
2. Web site: 1988-89 NHL Schedule and Results.
3. Web site: 1988-89 NHL Summary.