Trophy Tracker: Vasilevskiy of Lightning choice for Vezina as top goalie
His .851 high-danger save percentage is fifth, his 26 starts with a save percentage of at least .900 are tied for fourth, according to NHL EDGE Stats, and per NHL Stats has allowed two goals or fewer 26 times in 43 starts, tied with Thompson and the Philadelphia Flyers Dan Vladar for first.
Vasilevskiy’s best run of the season came from Dec. 20-Feb. 25, when he went 17-0-1 with a 1.90 GAA and .925 save percentage in 18 games. Tampa Bay went 20-1-1 to go from third in the division, two points behind the first-place Red Wings, to an eight-point lead.
The last goalie with a point streak longer was Vasilevskiy, who had a 21-game run from Dec. 17, 2019, to Feb. 15, 2020.
Along the way, Vasilevskiy moved into 24th in NHL history with 360 wins and passed Nikolai Khabibulin (333) and Evgeni Nabokov (353) for second among Russia-born goalies behind Sergei Bobrovsky (452).
If Vasilevskiy wins the Vezina this season, he’d join Bobrovsky as the only goalies from Russia to win the award more than once and become the third non-North America born goalie to win it multiple times, joining Bobrovsky (two) and Dominik Hasek (six).
“He’s been the backbone for this team this year,” Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh said. “He does it all and I think he’s the best goalie in the world. Having him back there gives us a lot of confidence to be aggressive and try to play the way we want to play and just know that he’s going to be there to stop pucks.”
