Vasilevskiy leads Vezina Trophy race at three-quarters point

To mark the three-quarters point of the season, NHL.com is running its fourth installment of the Trophy Tracker series this week. Today, we look at the race for the Vezina Trophy, given to the best goalie in the NHL as voted by the general managers of all NHL teams..

Andrei Vasilevskiy was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season.
Now he appears primed to finish the job and take the hardware home.
A panel of 21 NHL.com writers voted for the winner of the Vezina Trophy at the three-quarters point of the season and the consensus was Vasilevskiy is the top goalie. He received 93 points (15 first-place votes), 34 more than Frederik Andersen of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who edged out Vasilevskiy at the midway point.
"Goaltenders can mask a lot of mistakes," coach Jon Cooper said after Vasilevskiy made 20 saves to set the Lightning record with his 18th NHL shutout in a 3-0 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 16, his sixth shutout of the season. "[Vasilevskiy] has taken the baton and kept it going. Watching [Vasilevskiy] really just come into his own in this league at such a young age, I couldn't be more happy for him."

The 24-year-old is in his second full season as the Lightning's starting goalie. A first-round pick (No. 19) in the 2012 NHL Draft, his play has helped Tampa Bay (48-11-4) all but assure itself of having home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs; the Lightning have a double-digit lead in the race for the Presidents' Trophy.
Vasilevskiy, who is 28-7-4 in 39 games, is tied with Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights for the NHL lead in shutouts (six) and Robin Lehner of the New York Islanders in save percentage (.930) and ranks fourth with a 2.26 goals-against average.
All this despite Vasilevskiy missing more than a month after he injured his foot Nov. 10.
"Obviously, you need your goalie going down the stretch like this," Cooper said of Vasilevskiy, who is 8-0-2 with a 1.44 GAA and .953 save percentage in his past 10 starts. "You never want to see anybody get hurt, but he might have a little more in the tank coming down the stretch."
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis):Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning, 93 points (15 first-place votes); Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs, 59 points (one first-place vote); Robin Lehner, New York Islanders, 42 points; Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights, 36 points; Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens, 20 points; Ben Bishop, Dallas Stars, 17 points; Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators, 15 points; Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins, 12 points; Thomas Greiss, New York Islanders, 9 points; Carter Hart, Philadelphia Flyers, 4 points; Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets, 4 points; David Rittich, Calgary Flames, 2 points; John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks, 1 point; Jaroslav Halak, Boston Bruins, 1 point