1977–78 Detroit Red Wings season

National Hockey League team season March 2026 August 2023 NHL 1977–78 1977 Detroit Red Wings Wales 5th Norris 2nd 32–34–14 22–11–7 10–23–7 252 266 Ted Lindsay Bobby Kromm Dan Maloney Dennis Hextall None Detroit Olympia Dale McCourt (33) Reed Larson (41) Dale McCourt (72) Dennis Polonich (254) Jim Rutherford (20) Ed Giacomin (3.14) The 1977–78 Detroit Red Wings season was the Red Wings' 46th season, 52nd overall for the franchise. The Red Wings returned to the playoffs after an eight-year absence. In the postseason, the swept the Atlanta Flames 2–0 in the preliminary round, in the quarterfinal round the Wings would lose in five games to the eventual Stanley cup champion Montreal Canadiens. The Red Wings wouldn't return to the playoffs again until 1984, and wouldn't win another playoff series until 1987. 2 Regular season Final standings DET Record vs. opponents DET Schedule and results background:#fff; border-top:#CE1126 5px solid; border-bottom:#CE1126 5px solid; 1977–78 regular season1977-78 Detroit Red Wings Schedule https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/DET/1978_games.html Hockey-Reference.com April 2, 2025 y background:#fff; border-top:#CE1126 2px solid; border-bottom:#CE1126 2px solid; October Game Result Date Score Opponent Record |- |1||T||October 13, 1977||3–3 || align="left"| Toronto Maple Leafs (1977–78) ||0–0–1 |- |2||L||October 15, 1977||2–4 || align="left"| @ Los Angeles Kings (1977–78) ||0–1–1 |- |3||L||October 18, 1977||2–3 || align="left"| @ Vancouver Canucks (1977–78) ||0–2–1 |- |4||T||October 20, 1977||2–2 || align="left"| Montreal Canadiens (1977–78) ||0–2–2 |- |5||W||October 22, 1977||4–2 || align="left"| @ Minnesota North Stars (1977–78) ||1–2–2 |- |6||W||October 26, 1977||4–3 || align="left"| @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1977–78) ||2–2–2 |- |7||W||October 27, 1977||3–1 || align="left"| Minnesota North Stars (1977–78) ||3–2–2 |- |8||L||October 29, 1977||4–7 || align="left"| @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1977–78) ||3–3–2 |- y background:#fff; border-top:#CE1126 2px solid; border-bottom:#CE1126 2px solid; November Game Result Date Score Opponent Record |- |9||W||November 2, 1977||3–1 || align="left"| Pittsburgh Penguins (1977–78) ||4–3–2 |- |10||L||November 5, 1977||3–4 || align="left"| Cleveland Barons (1977–78) ||4–4–2 |- |11||W||November 6, 1977||4–1 || align="left"| @ Cleveland Barons (1977–78) ||5–4–2 |- |12||T||November 9, 1977||1–1 || align="left"| Washington Capitals (1977–78) ||5–4–3 |- |13||W||November 12, 1977||3–1 || align="left"| New York Rangers (1977–78) ||6–4–3 |- |14||L||November 13, 1977||0–3 || align="left"| @ Philadelphia Flyers (1977–78) ||6–5–3 |- |15||W||November 16, 1977||10–1 || align="left"| St. Louis Blues (1977–78) ||7–5–3 |- |16||L||November 18, 1977||3–5 || align="left"| @ Atlanta Flames (1977–78) ||7–6–3 |- |17||W||November 19, 1977||2–1 || align="left"| @ St. Louis Blues (1977–78) ||8–6–3 |- |18||W||November 23, 1977||4–1 || align="left"| Philadelphia Flyers (1977–78) ||9–6–3 |- |19||L||November 26, 1977||1–3 || align="left"| @ Montreal Canadiens (1977–78) ||9–7–3 |- |20||L||November 27, 1977||1–4 || align="left"| New York Islanders (1977–78) ||9–8–3 |- |21||L||November 30, 1977||4–6 || align="left"| @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1977–78) ||9–9–3 |- y background:#fff; border-top:#CE1126 2px solid; border-bottom:#CE1126 2px solid; December Game Result Date Score Opponent Record |- |22||L||December 3, 1977||2–4 || align="left"| @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1977–78) ||9–10–3 |- |23||L||December 4, 1977||1–6 || align="left"| @ Buffalo Sabres (1977–78) ||9–11–3 |- |24||L||December 6, 1977||1–2 || align="left"| Chicago Black Hawks (1977–78) ||9–12–3 |- |25||L||December 8, 1977||4–6 || align="left"| @ Boston Bruins (1977–78) ||9–13–3 |- |26||L||December 10, 1977||4–7 || align="left"| @ New York Islanders (1977–78) ||9–14–3 |- |27||T||December 15, 1977||5–5 || align="left"| New York Rangers (1977–78) ||9–14–4 |- |28||W||December 17, 1977||3–2 || align="left"| @ St. Louis Blues (1977–78) ||10–14–4 |- |29||L||December 18, 1977||2–6 || align="left"| @ New York Rangers (1977–78) ||10–15–4 |- |30||L||December 21, 1977||3–5 || align="left"| Buffalo Sabres (1977–78) ||10–16–4 |- |31||L||December 23, 1977||2–3 || align="left"| @ Washington Capitals (1977–78) ||10–17–4 |- |32||W||December 27, 1977||5–2 || align="left"| Colorado Rockies (1977–78) ||11–17–4 |- |33||T||December 29, 1977||3–3 || align="left"| @ Buffalo Sabres (1977–78) ||11–17–5 |- |34||L||December 31, 1977||0–7 || align="left"| Boston Bruins (1977–78) ||11–18–5 |- y background:#fff; border-top:#CE1126 2px solid; border-bottom:#CE1126 2px solid; January Game Result Date Score Opponent Record |- |35||W||January 5, 1978||2–1 || align="left"| Toronto Maple Leafs (1977–78) ||12–18–5 |- |36||W||January 8, 1978||4–3 || align="left"| Los Angeles Kings (1977–78) ||13–18–5 |- |37||W||January 11, 1978||6–3 || align="left"| @ Washington Capitals (1977–78) ||14–18–5 |- |38||L||January 12, 1978||1–6 || align="left"| Montreal Canadiens (1977–78) ||14–19–5 |- |39||W||January 14, 1978||6–2 || align="left"| Buffalo Sabres (1977–78) ||15–19–5 |- |40||T||January 18, 1978||4–4 || align="left"| @ Colorado Rockies (1977–78) ||15–19–6 |- |41||W||January 19, 1978||4–2 || align="left"| Chicago Black Hawks (1977–78) ||16–19–6 |- |42||L||January 21, 1978||1–7 || align="left"| @ Boston Bruins (1977–78) ||16–20–6 |- |43||W||January 22, 1978||6–3 || align="left"| Washington Capitals (1977–78) ||17–20–6 |- |44||L||January 28, 1978||1–6 || align="left"| @ Chicago Black Hawks (1977–78) ||17–21–6 |- |45||T||January 29, 1978||3–3 || align="left"| Philadelphia Flyers (1977–78) ||17–21–7 |- |46||L||January 31, 1978||3–5 || align="left"| Pittsburgh Penguins (1977–78) ||17–22–7 |- y background:#fff; border-top:#CE1126 2px solid; border-bottom:#CE1126 2px solid; February Game Result Date Score Opponent Record |- |47||L||February 1, 1978||0–2 || align="left"| @ Cleveland Barons (1977–78) ||17–23–7 |- |48||T||February 4, 1978||2–2 || align="left"| @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1977–78) ||17–23–8 |- |49||W||February 5, 1978||4–3 || align="left"| Cleveland Barons (1977–78) ||18–23–8 |- |50||W||February 7, 1978||2–1 || align="left"| @ Los Angeles Kings (1977–78) ||19–23–8 |- |51||L||February 9, 1978||3–5 || align="left"| Boston Bruins (1977–78) ||19–24–8 |- |52||L||February 11, 1978||5–8 || align="left"| @ New York Islanders (1977–78) ||19–25–8 |- |53||W||February 12, 1978||8–3 || align="left"| Vancouver Canucks (1977–78) ||20–25–8 |- |54||W||February 16, 1978||5–3 || align="left"| Atlanta Flames (1977–78) ||21–25–8 |- |55||L||February 18, 1978||2–4 || align="left"| @ Philadelphia Flyers (1977–78) ||21–26–8 |- |56||W||February 19, 1978||5–1 || align="left"| Los Angeles Kings (1977–78) ||22–26–8 |- |57||W||February 23, 1978||4–1 || align="left"| Washington Capitals (1977–78) ||23–26–8 |- |58||T||February 25, 1978||2–2 || align="left"| @ Atlanta Flames (1977–78) ||23–26–9 |- |59||L||February 26, 1978||1–3 || align="left"| St. Louis Blues (1977–78) ||23–27–9 |- |60||L||February 28, 1978||3–9 || align="left"| @ Montreal Canadiens (1977–78) ||23–28–9 |- y background:#fff; border-top:#CE1126 2px solid; border-bottom:#CE1126 2px solid; March Game Result Date Score Opponent Record |- |61||L||March 1, 1978||2–3 || align="left"| @ New York Rangers (1977–78) ||23–29–9 |- |62||W||March 4, 1978||3–1 || align="left"| @ Minnesota North Stars (1977–78) ||24–29–9 |- |63||W||March 5, 1978||4–3 || align="left"| Minnesota North Stars (1977–78) ||25–29–9 |- |64||T||March 9, 1978||2–2 || align="left"| Boston Bruins (1977–78) ||25–29–10 |- |65||W||March 11, 1978||5–4 || align="left"| Colorado Rockies (1977–78) ||26–29–10 |- |66||T||March 12, 1978||4–4 || align="left"| Vancouver Canucks (1977–78) ||26–29–11 |- |67||T||March 16, 1978||3–3 || align="left"| @ Los Angeles Kings (1977–78) ||26–29–12 |- |68||W||March 18, 1978||5–4 || align="left"| @ Vancouver Canucks (1977–78) ||27–29–12 |- |69||L||March 19, 1978||4–6 || align="left"| @ Colorado Rockies (1977–78) ||27–30–12 |- |70||W||March 22, 1978||4–1 || align="left"| Atlanta Flames (1977–78) ||28–30–12 |- |71||T||March 25, 1978||2–2 || align="left"| @ Pittsburgh Penguins (1977–78) ||28–30–13 |- |72||W||March 26, 1978||4–1 || align="left"| @ Washington Capitals (1977–78) ||29–30–13 |- |73||W||March 28, 1978||7–0 || align="left"| Buffalo Sabres (1977–78) ||30–30–13 |- |74||L||March 30, 1978||0–4 || align="left"| Los Angeles Kings (1977–78) ||30–31–13 |- y background:#fff; border-top:#CE1126 2px solid; border-bottom:#CE1126 2px solid; April Game Result Date Score Opponent Record |- |75||L||April 1, 1978||0–2 || align="left"| @ Chicago Black Hawks (1977–78) ||30–32–13 |- |76||L||April 2, 1978||2–5 || align="left"| New York Islanders (1977–78) ||30–33–13 |- |77||T||April 5, 1978||5–5 || align="left"| @ Cleveland Barons (1977–78) ||30–33–14 |- |78||W||April 6, 1978||6–4 || align="left"| Pittsburgh Penguins (1977–78) ||31–33–14 |- |79||L||April 8, 1978||1–5 || align="left"| @ Montreal Canadiens (1977–78) ||31–34–14 |- |80||W||April 9, 1978||4–0 || align="left"| Montreal Canadiens (1977–78) ||32–34–14 |- |- | Legend: #cfc Win (2 points) 1px solid black #fcc Loss (0 points) 1px solid black #ffc Tie (1 point) 1px solid black Player statistics Regular season Scoring Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Dale McCourt C 76 33 39 72 10101035 Andre St. Laurent C 77 31 39 70 10871004 Reed Larson D 75 19 41 60 95−8714 Dennis Hextall LW 78 16 33 49 195−5223 Nick Libett LW 80 23 22 45 46−3111 Dan Maloney LW 66 16 29 45 1514301 Paul Woods ice hockey LW 80 19 23 42 5218323 Bill Lochead LW 77 20 16 36 476204 Dennis Polonich C/RW 79 16 19 35 254−5500 Vaclav Nedomansky RW 63 11 17 28 2−17501 Greg Joly D 79 7 20 27 73−4202 Perry Miller Perry Miller (ice hockey) D 62 4 17 21 120−5011 Rick Bowness RW 61 8 11 19 76−8202 Terry Harper D 80 2 17 19 8519000 Dennis Hull LW 55 5 9 14 6−20201 Larry Wright Larry Wright (ice hockey) C 66 3 6 9 13−12000 Al Cameron D 63 2 7 9 94−12100 Jean Hamel D 32 2 6 8 343000 Thommie Bergman D 14 1 6 7 161000 Errol Thompson Errol Thompson (ice hockey) LW 14 5 1 6 2−4100 Danny Grant ice hockey RW 13 2 2 4 6−2100 Al McDonough RW 13 2 2 4 42000 Bob Ritchie Bob Ritchie (ice hockey) LW 11 2 2 4 0−1100 Rob Plumb LW 7 2 1 3 0−4100 Larry Giroux D 5 0 3 3 4−5000 J.P. LeBlanc Jean-Paul LeBlanc (ice hockey) C 3 0 2 2 41000 Jim Rutherford G 43 0 2 2 20000 Michel Bergeron Michel Bergeron (ice hockey, born 1954) RW 3 1 0 1 0−2000 Ron Low G 32 0 1 1 00000 Roland Cloutier C 1 0 0 0 0−2000 Ed Giacomin G 9 0 0 0 00000 John Hilworth D 5 0 0 0 120000 Fern LeBlanc C 2 0 0 0 0−2000 Tim Sheehy Timothy Sheehy (ice hockey) RW 15 0 0 0 0−13000 Rick Vasko D 3 0 0 0 7−1000 Goaltending Player MIN GPW LTGAGAA SO Jim Rutherford 2468 43 20 17 4 134 3.26 1 Ron Low 1816 32 9 12 9 102 3.37 1 Ed Giacomin 516 9 3 5 1 27 3.14 0 Team: 4800 80 32 34 14 263 3.29 2 Playoffs Scoring Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM PPG SHG GWG Vaclav Nedomansky RW 7 3 5 8 0100 Dale McCourt C 7 4 2 6 2200 Paul Woods ice hockey LW 7 0 5 5 4000 Nick Libett LW 7 3 1 4 0100 Bill Lochead LW 7 3 0 3 6001 Errol Thompson Errol Thompson (ice hockey) LW 7 2 1 3 2101 Dennis Hextall LW 7 1 1 2 10011 Andre St. Laurent C 7 1 1 2 4000 Thommie Bergman D 7 0 2 2 2000 Reed Larson D 7 0 2 2 4000 Dennis Polonich C/RW 7 1 0 1 19000 Al Cameron D 7 0 1 1 2000 Terry Harper D 7 0 1 1 4000 Jim Rutherford G 3 0 1 1 0000 Rick Bowness RW 4 0 0 0 2000 Larry Giroux D 2 0 0 0 2000 Jean Hamel D 7 0 0 0 10000 Dennis Hull LW 7 0 0 0 2000 Greg Joly D 5 0 0 0 8000 J.P. LeBlanc Jean-Paul LeBlanc (ice hockey) C 2 0 0 0 0000 Ron Low G 4 0 0 0 0000 Goaltending Player MIN GPW LGAGAA SO Jim Rutherford 180 3 2 1 12 4.00 0 Ron Low 240 4 1 3 17 4.25 0 Team: 420 7 3 4 29 4.14 0 hockey-reference.com 2009-06-02 1977-78 Detroit Red Wings Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/DET/1978.html 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; Transactions The Red Wings were involved in the following transactions during the 1977–78 season. Trades Player acquired Acquired fromFor Andre St. Laurent New York Islanders Michel Bergeron Cash Philadelphia Flyers Terry Murray Dennis Hull Chicago Blackhawks Red Wings' 4th round draft pick in 1980 Errol Thompson, 1st and 2nd round draft pick in 1978, 1st round Draft Pick in 1980 Toronto Maple Leafs Dan Maloney, 2nd round draft pick in 1980 Free agents Player Former team Player New team October 2021 Draft picks Detroit's picks at the 1977 NHL amateur draft in Mount Royal Hotel in Montreal. Round # Player Position Nationality College/junior/club team (League) 1 1 Dale McCourt Center Canada St. Catharines Fincups (OHA) 3 37 Rick Vasko Defense Canada Peterborough Petes (OHA) 4 55 John Hilworth Defense Canada Medicine Hat Tigers (WCHL) 5 73 Jim Korn Defense United States Providence College (ECAC) 6 91 Jim Baxter Goaltender Canada Union College (ECAC) 7 109 Randy Wilson Left wing United States Providence College (ECAC) 8 125 Raymond Roy Center United States Sherbrooke Castors (QMJHL) 9 141 Kip Churchill Center Canada Union College (ECAC) 10 155 Lance Gatoni Defense Canada University of Toronto (CIAU) 11 163 Rob Plumb Left wing Canada Kingston Canadians (OHA) 12 170 Alain Belanger Left wing Canada Trois-Rivières Draveurs (QMJHL) 13 175 Dean Willers Right wing United Kingdom Union College (ECAC) 14 178 Roland Cloutier Center Canada Trois-Rivières Draveurs (QMJHL) 15 181 Ed Hill Right wing United States University of Vermont (ECAC) 16 184 Val James Left wing United States Quebec Remparts (QMJHL) 17 185 Grant Morin Right wing Canada Calgary Centennials (WCHL) Reference: 1977 NHL amateur draft hockeydraftcentral.com http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1977/77rnd5.htm 6 January 2009 See also 1977–78 NHL season References Category:Detroit Red Wings seasons Detroit Detroit Red Detroit Red Category:1977 in Detroit Category:1978 in Detroit