Story courtesy NHL.com

Montreal forward and U.S. National Team veteran Max Pacioretty, who overcame a broken neck and put up a career-high 65 points, became the first Canadiens' player to win the Masterton Trophy since Saku Koivu in 2002.

Pacioretty appeared in the 2012 IIHF Men's World Championship and notched two goals and 10 assists for Team USA.

Colorado forward Gabriel Landeskog, a 19-year-old who finished with 22 goals and 30 assists, became the first Avalanche player since Chris Drury in 1999 to win the Calder Trophy. Florida's Brian Campbell became the first defenseman since 1954 to win the Lady Byng Trophy. He had only six penalty minutes all season.

Boston center Patrice Bergeron, who had 65 points and was successful on more than 59 percent of his 1,641 faceoffs, became the first Bruin to win the Selke Trophy since Steve Kasper in 1982. 

Daniel Alfredsson won the King Clancy Award. Mike Fisher won the NHL Foundation Player Award. Shane Doan collected the Messier NHL Leadership Award presented by Bridgestone. And, Claude Giroux, who was the third leading scorer in the NHL with 93 points, beat out Pekka Rinne to become the cover athlete for EA Sports' NHL 13 video game.

However, it was Evgeni Malkin who stole the night with his three trophies and his newfound confidence.

"It's the best day of my life," Malkin said.

Wednesday night at Encore Theater in the Wynn Las Vegas, Malkin stepped out of his old shoes and into his new ones. Not only is he now a Hart Trophy winner for the first time in his career, but he accepted the trophy at the 2012 NHL Awards show with a confident speech given in his still somewhat limited, yet vastly improved English.

Read more about the awards ceremony >>