New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Boston's Tuukka Rask, Colorado's Semyon Varlamov and Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop have been named finalists for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender.
Rask helped the Bruins to the Presidents' Trophy for the first time since 1990 with a record of 36-15-6 and was the only goaltender to rank among the top five in all major statistical categories. He led the league with seven shutouts, was second in save percentage at .930, finished fourth with a 2.04 goals-against average and was fifth in wins. The native of Finland allowed two goals or fewer in 37 of his 58 starts.
Varlamov led the NHL with 41 wins, surpassing Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy's previous franchise record of 40 set in 2000-01. His 2.39 GAA is the worst among the three finalists, but he had a .928 save percentage and saw the most shots in the league at 2,013, while posting a brilliant 32-4-4 record when facing 30 or more shots.
Bishop ranked fourth in the NHL with a franchise-record 37 wins and set a club record with a .924 save percentage, helping a young Lightning squad to a second-place finish in the Atlantic Division in his first season as a starter. He tied for fourth in the league with five shutouts and had a 2.23 GAA.
All three goaltenders are Vezina finalists for the first time. The Lightning and Avalanche have never had a Vezina winner, while Tim Thomas won with the Bruins in 2009 and 2011.
General managers of all 30 NHL teams submitted ballots for the award at the conclusion of the regular season.
The winner will be announced Tuesday, June 24 during the NHL Awards ceremony in Las Vegas.
[SportsNetwork.com]
