What Vezina Trophy?
I think if you were to ask Andrei Vasilevskiy which trophy he would prefer, I'm sure he'd take the Conn Smythe every time.
And after The Tampa Bay Lightning clinched the Stanley Cup with a 1-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens, Vasilevskiy, who shut out his fifth straight opponent in a series-clinching game (going back to 2020's 2-0 Stanley Cup clincher over the Dallas Stars), was awarded the 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the NHL Playoffs.
Throughout the playoffs, a few other Lightning players such as Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov garnered support for the trophy, but in the end, it was all Vasilevskiy.
In awarding the trophy to Vasy, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman noted that Vasy and Montreal great Ken Dryden are the only two goalies to appear in every playoff game in back-to-back Stanley-Cup-winning seasons. Pretty good company.
And so is the title back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions.
COVER PHOTO: Getty Images