DENVER – Colorado Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer was on Tuesday named one of three finalists for the NHL’s top goaltender award, the Vezina Trophy.
Grubauer, 29, had arguably the best regular season of his career, finishing with 30 wins, 9 losses and one tie and a 1.95 goals against average in 39 starts.
The first-time Vezina Trophy finalist finished second in the league in goals against average behind Carolina’s Alex Nedeljkovic, and second in terms of wins behind Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy.
He also led the league with a career-high seven shutouts and had the second-highest winning percentage among NHL goaltenders.
Grubauer is the third Avalanche and Nordiques goaltender to be named a finalist for the top goaltender trophy. Patrick Roy was a finalist twice and Semyon Varlamov was named a finalist once.
If Grubauer wins the Vezina Trophy, he would be the franchise’s first player to do so.
Vasilevskiy, who led the league in wins and won the Vezina Trophy in the 2018-19 season before finishing third last year, and Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights are the other two finalists.
The NHL’s general managers vote on the Vezina Trophy winner at the end of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters being nominated as finalists. The NHL says the league’s award winners will be announced during the Stanley Cup semifinals and final.
The Avalanche beat Vegas 7-1 in the first game of this second round of the playoffs. They plan again Wednesday night in Denver.
