Andrei Vasilevskiy made flashy saves look easy and stole wins as the Lightning rolled through the regular season.
The goalie's personal numbers weren't on the same historic level as the team's, but they were more than enough to earn Vasilevskiy the Vezina Trophy for best goaltender.
His wasn't a given like Nikita Kucherov's Hart win, but the 24-year-old made a clear case for the Vezina. Vasilevskiy had high competition, including from his former teammate Ben Bishop, but finished with 90% of the votes.
Vasilevskiy put up career numbers and was sixth in save percentage (.925) and ninth in goals-against average (2.40). Perhaps more importantly, he backstopped the league's best team in its historic regular season, finishing first with 39 wins.
He stole a few games for the Lightning, highlighted by a 54-save overtime win over Washington and a 49-save effort against Toronto in his first game back from injury. The Lightning rarely returned the favor for Vasilevskiy, in part because he had very few off games.
To start the night, Tampa Bay took hits in the opening monologue.
Host Kenan Thompson gave the "folks from Tampa" a shout out and recognized the historic season, the record-tying 62 regular-season wins and the record-tying zero playoff wins.
"That's what I like about them, win or lose, they set records," he quipped.
Kucherov was the first Lightning winner (Ted Lindsay Award for most outstanding player, as voted by players) and the last Lightning winner (Hart Trophy for MVP, as voted by writers). In between, he was recognized as the Art Ross winner, and award announced at the end of the regular season for the scoring champion.
The Lightning had two other award finalists: Victor Hedman for Norris Trophy (best defenseman) and Jon Cooper for Jack Adams Award (coach of the year).
Hedman was surprised to even be a finalist (and the Norris went to Calgary's Mark Giordano almost unanimously, only six votes went elsewhere), but Jon Cooper and Andrei Vasilevskiy had good shots at the Jack Adams and Vezina.
The Jack Adams went to Barry Trotz with Cooper in second. Cooper elevated the Lightning to a historic season without adding any major pieces. Trotz' Islanders outperformed expectations after the departure of John Tavares.
A few other Lightning players made the complete results. Anthony Cirelli finished sixth in votes for the Calder Award given to the rookie of the year and was 11th for the Selke (best defensive forward) with one first-place vote. Brayden Point was ninth on that list also with one vote for first place and got a couple of votes for Lady Byng (gentlemanly play). Ryan McDonagh finished eighth in the Norris results.
Cirelli also made the NHL all-rookie team. Kucherov and Vasilevskiy made the all-star first team and Hedman is on the second team.
The night's best moments had nothing to do with the Lightning.
Carey Price made an 11-year-old kid cry in the best way. His moment with Anderson Whitehead, whose mother died of cancer, won the fan choice award for best fan moment.
They had another moment on stage in Las Vegas as Price started with a video message and surprised Whitehead by coming out in person. He handed Whitehead a signed jersey with a lengthy personal message written and invited him to next year's All-Star Game, as tears streamed down the 11-year-old's face.
The best line of the night came from Islanders goalie Robin Lehner, about his Masterton Trophy win: "I'm not afraid to say I'm mentally ill, but that doesn't mean I'm mentally weak."
