Price, Karlsson, Kessel named Olympics' best

Sunday, 02.23.2014 / 10:10 AM / 2014 Olympics

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Price, Karlsson, Kessel named Olympics' best
Canada's Carey Price, Sweden's Erik Karlsson and the United States' Phil Kessel were named the best players at the 2014 Sochi Olympics

Canada goaltender Carey Price, who posted back-to-back shutouts in the semifinals and gold-medal game at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, was named the best goaltender at the tournament as voted by the International Ice Hockey Federation directorate.

Price finished the Olympics with a shutout streak of 164 minutes, 19 seconds. The last goal he allowed was to Latvia's Lauris Darzins with 4:19 remaining in the first period of the quarterfinals. He made 31 saves in a 1-0 blanking of the United States in the semifinal and 24 saves against Sweden in a 3-0 win in the gold-medal game Sunday.

The Montreal Canadiens goaltender finished the tournament with a 5-0 record, a 0.59 goals-against average and .972 save percentage. He allowed three goals on 106 shots.

The IIHF named Sweden's Erik Karlsson the tournament's best defenseman. He led all players at his position and tied for the tournament lead with eight points, and his four goals tied for the lead among defensemen. The Ottawa Senators defenseman also led Sweden in goals, assists (four) and plus/minus rating (plus-5).

United States forward Phil Kessel, who tied Karlsson with eight points, was named the tournament's best forward by the IIHF. Kessel's five goals tied Austria's Michael Grabner for the Olympic lead.

In voting conducted by media covering the Olympics, Finland forward Teemu Selanne was named the tournament's most valuable player. The 43-year-old led his team with four goals, including a pair against the U.S. in Finland's 5-0 win in the bronze-medal game. Selanne became the oldest player in Olympic hockey history to score a goal and the oldest to win an Olympic hockey medal.

Selanne also was named to the All-Tournament team as selected by the media. He was joined by Kessel and Selanne's Olympic teammate Mikael Granlund; defensemen Karlsson and Drew Doughty of Canada; and Sweden goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Granlund had a team-best seven points in six games for Finland and was tied for third in the tournament in scoring. Doughty led Canada and tied for the lead among tournament defensemen with four goals; his six points tied for the team lead. Lundqvist played every minute in goal for Sweden and allowed nine goals on 159 shots. He finished with a 1.50 GAA, .943 save percentage and two shutouts. Lundqvist was the only goaltender to play 100 percent of his team's minutes at the Olympics.

2014 OLYMPICS POLL