Johnson, Palat, MacKinnon up for rookie award

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NEW YORK -- Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat are finalists for the NHL's top rookie award.

They're joined by Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche in the running for the Calder Trophy.

Johnson had a rookie team-record 24 goals and tied with MacKinnon for the NHL lead among rookies. MacKinnon, selected first overall in the draft by Colorado, led all NHL rookies in scoring with 63 points.

Palat finished second among rookie scorers with 59 points and 23 goals.

Tampa Bay is the first club to have multiple nominees for the award since 2008 when Chicago's Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews finished first and third, respectively.

The award winner will be announced June 24 at the NHL awards banquet in Las Vegas.

"It's pretty cool. It's always good going back to Vegas," MacKinnon said after Avalanche practice in Minnesota on Wednesday. "It's going to be fun. I watched it on TV growing up and things like that, but it's going to be fun to be with some of the guys I know."

Copyright 2014 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index

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