Golden Knights forward finishes third in Selke Trophy voting

Mark Stone fell short in his quest for the Selke Trophy.

The Golden Knights captain finished third in the voting, with Florida’s Aleksander Barkov winning the award for the NHL’s best defensive forward, the league announced Friday before Game 3 of the Stanley Cup semifinals at the Montreal Canadiens.

Boston’s Patrice Bergeron was the other finalist.

Stone was looking to become the first winger to win the award since Dallas’ Jere Lehtinen in 2003.

Stone had 11 first-place votes and 463 points. Barkov (62 first-place votes, 780 points) was the overwhelming winner, with Bergeron getting 15 first-place votes from the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Stone posted a team-leading 61 points (21 goals, 40 assists) in 55 games and led the NHL in takeaways (58) for the second time in three seasons. He ranked third in takeaways per 60 minutes (3.63) among players with at least 30 games played.

His on-ice even-strength goal differential (plus-27) was fifth in the league overall and third among forwards, and he tied for 10th with a plus-26 rating.

“He’s probably up there as one of the smartest guys I’ve ever played with,” Knights defenseman Alec Martinez said. “A lot of that helps his defensive game. He’s got one of the best sticks I’ve ever seen. He’s always picking off passes, knocking down passes, stripping guys, things like that.”

Stone was a key member of the league’s top penalty-killing unit during the regular season. The Knights allowed only two goals during Stone’s 74:12 of ice time short-handed, and he scored once.

This was the second time in three seasons Stone was a finalist for the award. He finished runner-up in 2019 to St. Louis center Ryan O’Reilly and was fifth in the voting last season.

Tuch to center

Alex Tuch skated as the first-line center for the Knights with Chandler Stephenson out because of an upper-body injury, and Tomas Nosek returned to the lineup.

The Knights missed Stephenson’s speed through the middle during their Game 2 loss and shuffled lines entering the second period in an effort to find a combination that worked.

Tuch played center May 1 against Arizona to prepare for a situation such as this. Before that, Tuch said he hadn’t played the position since he was a teenager with the U.S. National Team Development Program.

Nosek hadn’t played since Game 2 against Minnesota on May 18.

Habs coach tests positive

Canadiens interim coach Dominique Ducharme tested positive for COVID-19 and wasn’t on the bench for Game 3. Assistant Luke Richardson took over coaching duties.

Ducharme was sent home Friday morning “due to irregularities” in his COVID-19 test result and missed the team’s morning skate.

The team canceled Ducharme’s media availability, and he underwent further testing to confirm his result. Ducharme received his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine June 9, according to the NHL.

No other players, coaches or staff members from the Canadiens tested positive.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.