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SPORTS Friday 21 June 2019
Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov wins Hart, Lindsay at NHL Awards

By GREG BEACHAM of doing the things that are
AP Sports Writer necessary to turn their lives
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nikita around. That's incredibly re-
Kucherov gratefully ac- warding."
cepted the Hart Trophy After joining several Blues
and the Ted Lindsay Award teammates in carrying the
on Wednesday night in rec- Stanley Cup down the Ve-
ognition of his spectacular gas red carpet, O'Reilly
128-point regular season in won the Selke over Boston's
Tampa Bay. Patrice Bergeron, a four-
He might even be able to time Selke winner and a
enjoy the trophies some- finalist for the eighth con-
day, whenever the sting of secutive year, and Vegas'
the Lightning's first-round Mark Stone.
postseason loss has faded. O'Reilly was the Blues' top
Kucherov won the NHL's scorer with 77 points, in-
highest honors Wednesday cluding 28 goals in his first
night, receiving the Hart as season in St. Louis. He also
the league MVP and the compiled a plus-22 rating
Lindsay Award as the best and finished fourth in the
player according to a vote NHL with 94 takeaways.
of his fellow pros. Giordano was rewarded
The Russian right wing also for his remarkable perfor-
formally picked up the Art mance 13 years into an NHL
Ross Trophy as the NHL's career spent entirely with
top scorer at the hockey the Flames. He is the fourth
world's annual Vegas cere- Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikita Kucherov poses with, from left, the Ted Lindsay Award, Hart Memorial defenseman to win the
mony at the Mandalay Bay Trophy and the Art Ross Trophy after winning the honors at the NHL Awards, Wednesday, June 19, Norris at 35 or older, joining
Events Center. 2019, in Las Vegas. Nicklas Lidstrom, Doug Har-
"It's a huge night for me and vey and Al MacInnis.
my family," said Kucherov, and help the team get man, earning the award Trotz beat out Tampa Bay's "I take a lot of pride in work-
who turned 26 on Monday. more points." for the first time at 35 years Jon Cooper and St. Louis' ing out off the ice and
"But the main thing is Stan- A year after scoring 100 old. Vancouver forward Craig Berube for the top keeping myself in good
ley Cup. We want to make points, Kucherov emerged Elias Pettersson won the coaching honor. He also shape," Giordano said. "It's
sure we work harder than as perhaps the most im- Calder Trophy given to the won the award with Wash- not easy to play late into
we thought we did (last pressive scorer in hockey, league's top rookie, and ington three years ago. your 30s. I think we're all
season). All these individ- putting up a career-best 41 Ryan O'Reilly added his first After winning the Stanley aware of that as players,
ual (awards), it's obviously goals and 87 assists. Kuch- Selke Trophy as the NHL's Cup and subsequently but (we) try to last as long
nice, but the main thing is erov tied Jaromir Jagr's NHL top defensive forward to leaving the Capitals last as you can."
Stanley Cup for me." record for assists by a wing, the Blues' Stanley Cup vic- summer, Trotz engineered The Calgary captain led
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Kuch- and he surpassed Alexan- tory. an impressive 23-point im- the NHL with a plus-39 rating
erov's Russian teammate, der Mogilny's single-season Barry Trotz of the New York provement by the Isles for and scored a career-best
won his first Vezina Trophy record for points by a Rus- Islanders won his second their best single-season re- 74 points while regularly
as the NHL's top goalie in sian-born player. Jack Adams Award as the cord since 1983-84, even playing against opponents'
another bittersweet rec- Tampa Bay also posted 128 best coach, while Boston's after losing John Tavares to best lines. Giordano beat
ognition for the Lightning, standings points, the most Don Sweeney was named Toronto. out the last two winners of
who won 62 regular-sea- by any team since 1996 — the league's top general Trotz took a moment after the Norris: San Jose's Brent
son games before getting but Kucherov regrets that manager. accepting the award to Burns and Tampa Bay's Vic-
swept by Columbus in the he had little impact dur- But Kucherov was the honor his goalie. tor Hedman.
opening round. ing the Lightning's stunning headliner on a night of Lehner won the Masterton The 20-year-old Pettersson
Kucherov received 164 sweep by the Blue Jackets. several first-time winners at Trophy as the player exem- joins Pavel Bure (1992) as
of 171 first-place votes in Kucherov served a one- the NHL Awards ceremo- plifying the qualities of per- the only Calder winners in
a runaway Hart victory game suspension for a dan- ny, hosted by "Saturday severance, sportsmanship Canucks' history. Petters-
over two-time MVP Sidney gerous hit during the series, Night Live" veteran Kenan and dedication to hockey. son provided an offensive
Crosby of Pittsburgh, who and he scored his only two Thompson. The Hart was Lehner became a Vezina jolt to the Canucks, scoring
finished second, and 2017 playoff points in the Game presented by "Jeopardy" finalist after revealing dur- a goal on his first NHL shot
Hart winner Connor McDa- 4 defeat. host Alex Trebek, who re- ing training camp that he and finishing with a rookie-
vid of Edmonton. The vot- "When I came (to the U.S.), ceived a standing ovation has struggled with addic- best 28 goals and 38 assists.
ing was no surprise after the main thing was just in one of his first public ap- tion and bipolar disorder. Wild forward Jason Zucker
Kucherov posted the NHL's try and make the team," pearances since announc- "I'm not ashamed to say I'm won the King Clancy Me-
highest-scoring individual Kucherov said. "Now all my ing his battle with pancre- mentally ill, but that doesn't morial Trophy for leader-
season since 1996. thoughts are just to win the atic cancer. mean mentally weak," Leh- ship and humanitarian
"When the team plays Cup, and bring the Cup Vasilevskiy beat out Dal- ner said after accepting his contributions to hockey.
good, the numbers will ob- back to Tampa, because las' Ben Bishop and the Is- award. Florida center Aleksander
viously be good," Kucherov people deserve that. landers' Robin Lehner for "I've had such an incred- Barkov won his first Lady
said. "You just try not to think We've been playing good the Vezina. The Russian is ible outpouring of support," Byng Trophy as the player
too much about it. If you hockey, and I'm sure if we the first Tampa Bay goalie he added later. "There's so best combining sportsman-
think too much, your game keep the team (together), to win the award, leading many people that have ship, gentlemanly conduct
can just go away, and bad we can bounce back." the NHL with 39 victories contacted me that I still and ability, while Nashville's
things can happen. All my Calgary's Mark Giordano while posting a 2.40 goals- haven't been able to get to Wayne Simmonds won the
thoughts were about win- won the Norris Trophy as against average and a yet, that are just scared to Mark Messier NHL Leader-
ning games for my team, the NHL's top defense- .925 save percentage. take that first step, scared ship Award.q