Henrik and Brodeur (and Nabokov) Square Off Again

Henrik Lundqvist, along with Martin Brodeur and Evgeni Nabokov, has been named as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. The Vezina goes to the NHL’s top goaltender during the Regular Season.

Evgeni Nabokov finished the regular season with a 46-21-8 record, a 2.14 GAA, a .910 SV% and 6 shutouts. This is Nabokov’s first nomination as a Vezina Finalist.

Martin Brodeur has now been nominated as a Vezina Finalist 8 times. He has won it 3 times in his career. Brodeur finished the regular season with a 44-27-6 record, a 2.17 GAA, a .920 SV% and 4 shutouts.

Henrik Lundqvist has now been nominated as a Vezina Finalist 3 years in a row. That is, every year he has played in the NHL. Maybe third time’s the charm? Lundqvist finished the regular season with 37-24-10 record with a 2.23 GAA and a .912 SV%. He finished the season with 10 shutouts to lead the league.

Here’s how the fans are voting at ESPN.com.

1) Who should win the Vezina Trophy?
42.5%	Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers
36.3%	Evgeni Nabokov, Sharks
21.2%	Martin Brodeur, Devils
Total Votes: 21,096

You can cast your vote by clicking here.

All 30 NHL GMs vote for the Vezina Trophy and the Winner will be announced on June 12, 2008 in Toronto.

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Link to Avery Interview

Here’s a youtube video of the Sean Avery interview we talked about in this earlier post.

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Avery gives best interview ever; calls Brodeur “fatso”

I highly recommend you watch the replay of Game 5 on MSG, if only for the post game show featuring John Giannone’s interview of Sean Avery. Some gems from the interview

In response to whether the Devils were targeting him, Avery said, “Guys like Clarkson, who’s not much of a player, and really is not that effective. He was trying to play with me, and we know he can’t.”

On how much the Rangers physical play impacted Brodeur, Avery said, “I think he probably did it to himself more than anything. I think, you know, if you watch the games, he dove and was out of position a lot. It’s just us playing hard and playing hockey.”

On whether he was surprised that Brodeur didn’t want to shake his hand, Avery offered this gem, “Well, everyone talks about how classy or un-classy I am, and fatso there just forgot to shake my hand I guess. . . We outplayed him. I outplayed him. We’re going to the second round.”

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Rangers send Devils Packing

After jumping out to a 4-1 lead, the Rangers held on for 5-3 victory.

I don’t have much to say about the game itself other than the Rangers really dominated play throughout the game and seemed to fall victim to a few unlucky bounces. Let’s hope that’s out of their system and we stop bouncing pucks into our own net. Also, the 3rd period was a superb performance by Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers defense. But especially Lundqvist. That penalty shot save was a thing of beauty.

Best unintentional comedy of the night: 14:45 left in the 1st period, the Devils P.A. announcer starts to announce the Devils first goal in that super-excited announcer voice. “a NEW Jersey DEVVVVIIILLLLS goalll scored by NUMBER 14, Brrrrrrr-ian, Gionnnnnntaaaaa.” Meanwhile, the Rangers had already tied it up and were starting a power play on which they were about to take the lead. Maybe a little bit more sense of the moment would be appropriate there?

As for handshake-gate, I think it’s a little childish of Brodeur to pass Avery by. The handshake line in hockey is supposed to be a beautiful display of sportsmanship, where 2 teams who have been beating the hell out of each other for 2 weeks can shake hands and say job well done. It’s disappointing to see a future hall-of-famer like Marty disrespect the tradition like that. Here’s how I think the Avery/Brodeur exchange on the handshake line went.

• Brodeur: I’m not going to shake your hand. You have no class.
• Avery: Are you upset because I scored 3 goals on you this series?
• Brodeur: NO! [starts crying]. I played like crap. I gave up a bad goal in EVERY game. Plus, I got called for diving. I suck 😦
• Avery: Whatever, fatso.

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