Golden Knights’ Fleury, Karlsson snubbed for NHL awards
Some of Marc-Andre Fleury’s best work of his career was not good enough to merit consideration for the Vezina Trophy.
Same for William Karlsson’s record season and the Frank J. Selke Trophy.
The Golden Knights goaltender — who had the third-best goals-against average in the NHL (2.24), the sixth-best save percentage (.927), a 29-13-4 record and four shutouts — was not a finalist for the award that goes to the league’s top goalie. He has never won the Vezina nor has he finished as a runner-up.
And your Vezina Trophy finalists are…
We'll know the winner in @Vegas! #AwardWorthy #NHLAwards pic.twitter.com/2o2KSGKNJU
— NHL (@NHL) April 17, 2018
The finalists are Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, Nashville’s Pekka Rinne and Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The NHL on Wednesday announced its finalists for the Selke Trophy, which goes to the league’s top defensive forward. Karlsson, who led the league in plus/minus with plus-49 and had 43 goals, received votes but is not a finalist.
Your nominees for the Frank J. Selke Trophy are Patrice Bergeron, Sean Couturier and @AnzeKopitar.
Who will in? Find out at the 2018 #NHLAwards in @Vegas! pic.twitter.com/gH1KeKchK4
— NHL (@NHL) April 18, 2018
Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar, Philadelphia’s Sean Couturier and Boston’s Patrice Bergeron are the finalists.
The winners will be announced at the NHL’s Awards Show June 20 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.
Getting the last laugh
Maybe next time, Drew Doughty will just keep his mouth shut.
The Kings defenseman said in December that the Knights’ early success wouldn’t hold up. “There’s no way they’re going to be a better team than us by the end of the season,” he said.
In the aftermath of sweeping the Kings, the Knights took the high road in remarks about Doughty.
“Doughty’s a guy that earned the respect in the league and is able to talk like that in the media, I think,” Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “He’s definitely one of the best defenseman I’ve played against. He’s a good player, and he did limit a lot of our chances as a line. But we were able to get two goals in two nights, and at the end of the night, those goals were the winning goals.
“They should come out head high because they definitely gave us some trouble and they were pressuring and they were physical. They’re really good players, and I think they should be happy with their season.”
Not the norm
Prior to the opening round against the Kings, the Knights were involved in only one 1-0 game this season. That came Jan. 16 when they lost to the Nashville Predators.
In the series, which saw each game decided by one goal, the Knights twice won 1-0 as Fleury earned his 11th and 12th playoff shutouts to tie Terry Sawchuk for ninth place on the career playoff shutout list.
Fleury leads all playoff goalies with an 0.65 goals-against average and a .977 save percentage. Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick finished with the highest combined save percentage in NHL history by a goalie through four losses in a playoff series at .947.
The Magnificent Seven
In sweeping the Kings, the Knights scored seven goals, all by different players, including two defensemen.
The Knights’ scorers were defenseman Shea Theodore in Game 1, forward Alex Tuch and center Erik Haula in Game 2, center Cody Eakin, forward James Neal and center William Karlsson in Game 3, and defenseman Brayden McNabb in Game 4.
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Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.
