Rinne of Predators wins Vezina Trophy as best goaltender in NHL

Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators won the Vezina Trophy as the best goaltender in the NHL at the 2018 NHL Awards Presented by Hulu at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Rinne, 35, finished third in the NHL with 42 wins and helped the Predators to their first Presidents' Trophy and Nashville records for wins (53) and points (117). His eight shutouts were a Predators record and tied for the NHL lead with Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Rinne ranked fifth in goals-against average (2.31) and tied for sixth in save percentage (927). He won 11 straight games from Feb. 19-March 19, including becoming the 34th goaltender in NHL history to win 300 games on Feb. 22.

RELATED: NHL Awards results

It was the first Vezina Trophy for Rinne, a four-time finalist who finished second in 2011 and 2015, and third in 2012. Rinne became the seventh goalie in NHL history to have at least 40 wins in three seasons (2011-12, 2014-15).

The other finalists were Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, and Vasilevskiy, who tied for the NHL lead with 44 wins. Hellebuyck, 25, broke Tom Barrasso's record for most wins by a United States-born goaltender (43 with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992-93); Vasilevskiy, 23, set a Lightning record with nine straight wins (Oct. 9-30).

Here is the voting by NHL general managers:

Pts. (1st-2nd-3rd)

1. Pekka Rinne, NSH 129 (22-6-1)
2. Connor Hellebuyck, WPG 82 (7-14-5)
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL 21 (0-5-6)
4. Frederik Andersen, TOR 12 (1-2-1)
5. Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK 11 (1-1-3)
6. John Gibson, ANA 11 (0-1-8)
7. Tuukka Rask, BOS 7 (0-2-1)
8. Sergei Bobrovsky, CBJ 4 (0-0-4)
   t-9. Roberto Luongo, FLA 1 (0-0-1)
   t-9. Jonathan Quick, LAK 1 (0-0-1)