Vasilevskiy, Hellebuyk, Rask chosen as NHL Vezina finalists

Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning has been selected as a Vezina Trophy finalist for the third consecutive season, with a shot at becoming the first abet-to-abet winner of the NHL’s high goalie award in 12 years.

Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyk and Boston’s Tuukka Rask rounded out the checklist of finalists released on Friday following a vote by the league’s general managers.

Vasilevskiy executed with an NHL-leading 35 wins, which included a 21-sport stretch in which he went 19-0-2, and closed the season going 21-5-1 over his final 27 begins. He used to be a important-time Vezina winner final 12 months, and executed third in the vote in 2018.

New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur, in 2007 and ’08 used to be the final repeat winner.

Rask executed with a 26-8-6 anecdote, led the NHL with a 2.12 dreams-against average and executed 2d with a .929 set apart percentage. Rask, who won the Vezina in 2014, and Jaroslav Halak teamed to determine the William Jennings Trophy in having the Bruins allow the fewest dreams this past season.

Hellebuyk went 31-21-5 in leading goalies in shots confronted (1,796), saves (1,656), minutes done and six shutouts. He accounted for 31 of Winnipeg’s 37 wins, and went 10-1-2 in games he confronted 37 or extra shots. From Michigan, Hellebuyk is a 2d-time Vezina finalist after ending 2d in 2018.

The NHL also announced three finalists for the Willie O’Ree Neighborhood Hero award, given to an particular individual who has positively impacted their community thru hockey.

The finalists are: Dampy Brar of Calgary, Alberta, where he co-based Apna Hockey, which helps South Asian hockey gamers; Alexandria Briggs-Blake of Oxon Hill, Maryland, where she led a fund-raising effort to carry out a novel arena for the Tucker Aspect highway Ducks, a predominantly African American hockey crew; and John Haferman of Columbus, Ohio, who co-based the Columbus Ice Hockey Club, which has introduced hockey to extra than 30,000 below-privileged and disabled kids accurate thru the final three decades.