The importance of a goaltender can’t be overlooked. All three of this year’s Vezina Trophy finalists made it to the conference semifinals, while Jonathan Quick and Henrik Lundqvist are favored to win their conferences. It would seemed destiny if it is so. All year it felt like a showdown between the two for the trophy, and it was only recently Pekka Rinne sneaked in the picture with a sparkling 43 wins in 72 games.

Lundgvist has slowly built himself into a consistent wall, Quick made more with less and Rinne had better stats than any of them.

Any one of this year’s finalists is deserving. Lundqvist led New York to its best record since 1993-94 when the Rangers won their last cup. His 39 wins this year were a career-high and set an NHL record for seven-straight seasons with 30 wins or more. He’s sniffed the trophy before, coming in third from 2006-08, but he’s been the most consistent goaltender all year, finishing no worse than fourth in wins, save percentage, goals against average and shutouts. He is the front runner in NHL Awards Betting Lines to win this year.

But nobody was more critical to his team than Quick, who carried the Kings to a playoff berth despite a 29th-ranked offense. How Los Angeles is a favorite to win the championship in Stanley Cup Futures Odds is a miracle. Quick faced 86 more shots than Lundqvist did, and still had a better save percentage. The Rangers were fourth in blocked shots, the Kings were second to last. The Rangers were 17th in takeaways, the Kings were 28th. Quick is nominated for the first time after becoming the first goaltender in franchise history to win 30 games three years in a row. He led all goalies with 10 shutouts, and was second in goals against average. Quick has the second-best odds to win.

Quick has gained a lot of attention this year, but no one worked harder than Rinne, who led the league in shots faced and saves. He had the second-most starts and minutes in the league, yet his 43 wins were tops in the league.

The Vezina Trophy has traditionally been awarded to the goaltender on the team that allowed the fewest goals during the regular season, although voting has changed that. The award is voted by the league’s 30 general managers.