How Tuukka Rask won the 2014 Vezina Trophy

Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask won the 2014 Vezina Trophy, handed to the "goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at his position," as selected by NHL General Managers.

Rask was the pick for 16 of 30 GMs, with Semyon Varlamov of the Colorado Avalanche a distant second with nine first-place votes. Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the third finalist, actually only received one first-place vote while fourth-place finisher Carey Price had two.

(Oh, and for poops and giggles: Steve Mason finished ahead of 2013 Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky in the voting.)

From the NHL:

Rask's win marks the third time in the past six seasons that a Bruins netminder has taken Vezina honors, following first-place finishes by Tim Thomas in 2009 and 2011.

Rask posted a 36-15-6 record, highlighted by a career-best 10-game point streak from Mar. 20-30 (9-0-1), as the Bruins captured their first Presidents’ Trophy since 1990 and led the Eastern Conference in team defense (2.08 GA/game). He allowed two goals or fewer in 37 of 58 starts, set single-season highs in wins and appearances, and was the only goaltender to rank among the NHL’s top five in each of the major statistical categories: first in shutouts (seven), second in save percentage (.930), fourth in goals-against average (2.04) and fifth in wins.

Here’s the voting:

Pts. 1st-2nd-3rd
1. Tuukka Rask, BOS 103 (16-6-5)
2. Semyon Varlamov, COL 90 (9-13-6)
3. Ben Bishop, TB 32 (1-6-9)
4. Carey Price, MTL 26 (2-3-7)
5. Jonathan Quick, LA 9 (1-1-1)
6. Henrik Lundqvist, NYR 5 (1-0-0)
7. Steve Mason, PHI 3 (0-1-0)
8. Sergei Bobrovsky, CBJ 1 (0-0-1)
Kari Lehtonen, DAL 1 (0-0-1)

Here’s our ballot, if we had one.

Varlamov exceeded expectations, and his leap from good to great was too much to ignore. Well, save for the general managers that just totally did.