Nashville’s Pekka Rinne wins Vezina Trophy as NHL’s best goaltender

Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne comments on winning the Vezina Trophy.

LAS VEGAS — Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne has won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie for the 2017-18 season.

The 35-year-old Finn took home the honour for the first time at Wednesday’s NHL Awards in Las Vegas.

A finalist for the fourth time, Rinne beat out Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Hellebuyck, 24, and Vasilevskiy, 23, were both up for the award for the first time in their careers.

Rinne tied for third in the NHL with 42 wins, two back of both Hellebuyck and Vasilevskiy.

He also had eight shutouts to tie Vasilevskiy for first, ranked fifth in goals-against average (2.31), seventh in save percentage (927).

Rinne won 11 straight games from Feb. 19 to March 19 as Nashville claimed its first Presidents’ Trophy for the best regular-season record to go along with new franchise highs for wins (53) and points (117).

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