Take a look at the list of goalies that have won the Vezina Trophy three or more times. It's a who's who of the greatest of all time: Hall of Famers Martin Brodeur, Ken Dryden, Tony Esposito, Dominik Hasek, Jacques Plante and Patrick Roy.

At 31, Connor Hellebuyck has a chance to join the group as a three-time winner this season. The Winnipeg Jets goalie, who leads the league in goals against average (2.07) and wins (34) and is second in save percentage (.925), could become the first since Brodeur to win the award in consecutive seasons.

"He's one of the best in the world right now," New York Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick said. "One easy way to sum that up was that we played them maybe a month or two ago and we do scouting reports on every goalie we're playing. One of the things that kept coming up is: if he sees it, he's going to stop it."

This has led to Hellebuyck's name being mentioned in the same breath as Tom Barrasso, Ryan Miller, Mike Richter, Tim Thomas, Quick and John Vanbiesbrouck -- the best goalies the United States has produced. An argument could be made that he should be at the top of the list, and strong performances in backstopping the U.S. to two wins in the 4 Nations Face-Off bolster that argument.

The U.S. faces Sweden Monday (8 p.m. ET, TNT), and has clinched a spot in the championship Thursday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+).

Examining Hellebuyck's figurative stature leads to looking at his literal one -- and why he's become a prototype -- at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds. For context, if Hellebuyck added 10 more pounds, he'd be the exact height and weight as Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

In addition to his size, he's durable. While most NHL teams rely on tandems to navigate a full season, finding a goaltender who is capable of starting more than 60 games is rare. Hellebuyck is on pace to finish with more than 60 starts for a fourth consecutive season.

"He is a bit of an anomaly compared to the rest of the league now," said Jimmy Howard, who is ninth all-time in wins by a U.S. goalie. "First and foremost it's his consistency. But it's also his style. He's very quiet in the net. He's really good at controlling rebounds and putting pucks in spots. You don't really see him getting spread out and flying around on the net. He's very efficient in his movement."

Consider:

• Since Hellebuyck made his NHL debut during the 2015-16 season, no goalie has played or started more games.

• No goalie has played more minutes, faced more shots, made more saves and had more shutouts than Hellebuyck since his rookie season.

• He is sixth in save percentage and sixth in overtime wins in that span.

• Since the 2022-23 season, his goals saved above expected is 72.51, per Natural Stat Trick, which is the best mark in the NHL in that span, with New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin well behind in second, with 51.44.

ESPN asked some of the all-time American greats -- Thomas, Miller, Quick, Richter and Howard -- about Hellebuyck's place in the pecking order.

"It's definitely something I've always strived to be, but it is a little crazy hearing it because I am only 31," Hellebuyck told ESPN. "I'm only halfway through my career. It's exciting that things are trending the way I've always wanted them to be. It's an honor to even be trying to answer a question like this, to be honest with you."

HELLEBUYCK'S 10 SEASONS in the NHL stack well against the other American-born goalies through this stage of their careers.

• He's third in career shutouts among American goalies, two away from passing Miller for second place.

• He's tied for fourth in career save percentage among U.S. goalies with more than 100 career games (.917).

• He's sixth in career wins with 309, 11 wins away from surpassing Craig Anderson for fifth all-time, which could happen this season.

• He's tied for seventh in goals-against average among U.S. goalies with more than 100 games, at 2.58.

• Hellebuyck passed Howard earlier this season to move into eighth in most games played (548).

"He keeps putting up these 30-win seasons, and now Winnipeg looks like one of the more powerful teams in the league," Richter said. "That's part of the package. That's going to help you get wins, but by no means has this guy been sitting back. He's been playing great hockey, and he's a hard goalie to score against consistently."

Another statistic that speaks to Hellebuyck's place among all-time great American goalies is the historic place he holds in the Vezina conversation. The Vezina is an award that's been dominated by Canadians -- goalies from that country have won 80 times. The U.S. is tied for second-most Vezina wins by a nation with Czechia, as Dominik Hasek won six by himself between 1993 and 2001.

An American-born goalie has won the award 10 times, with Hellebuyck, Thomas and Frank Brimsek each winning the award twice. Hellebuyck could break the tie, becoming the only American to win the award three times.

"The last world championships I played in [in 2014], we had Connor Hellebuyck on our team and I hadn't heard of him before," Thomas said. "He was playing in college and I wasn't paying attention to college when I was in the NHL. ... Watching him over the course of that World Championships, I realized how much potential he had and was super impressed. He was doing great even then."

THE U.S. HAS had high-level goaltenders before, but never someone like Hellebuyck who was seen as a prototypical goalie. That becomes evident when Howard, Miller, Quick and Thomas name their most influential American goalies, and how that's evolved over time.

Thomas, born in 1974, grew up watching the game at a time in which there were not many American goalies. He was 10 when Barrasso won the Vezina and the Calder Trophy in the 1983-84 season. Despite Barrasso's success, nine of the 70 goalies to play in the league that season were American. Seven of them won fewer than 10 games.

Miller, who was born in 1980, saw 11 American goalies in the NHL by the time he was 10. During the 1990-91 season, Barrasso played a key role in the Pittsburgh Penguins winning the Stanley Cup.

Both Thomas and Miller highlighted the importance of seeing American goalies play at the Olympics, which provided them with a platform in a sport largely dominated by Canadians. Thomas said he was influenced by Jim Craig's performances with the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, while he and Miller said they were fans of Ray LeBlanc, who started for Team USA at the 1992 Olympics.

Craig played only 30 NHL games while LeBlanc was a career minor-leaguer who played one NHL game.

"You just kind of look for guys who were doing what you were doing," Miller said. "That's something I try to keep in mind when people talk about how representation matters in certain areas of sports or life or business. Not that I'm in the minority. But when No. 1, you're American and No. 2, you're a goalie? You're looking for some commonalities."

Howard and Quick, born two years apart, are part of a group that started seeing a shift. Howard was 10 when the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994 behind Richter. NHL players also participated in the Olympics in 1998.

That's around the same time USA Hockey began the United States National Team Development Program, in 1996. The NTDP would play a foundational role in developing future NHL goalies such as Howard, Jack Campbell, Rick DiPietro, Thatcher Demko and Jake Oettinger.

"I remember going to Colorado Springs as a 14-, 15-year-old and going toe-to-toe with your peers and just learning from different goalie coaches from all different levels throughout the United States," Howard said. "They've really put an emphasis on how being in the U.S., we've always had top forwards and top D, but it was goalies where we lacked. So USA Hockey really took an emphasis on developing more, so goalies aren't just shooter tutors when it comes to practices."

College hockey also began to further establish itself as a more prominent developmental path. Americans including Jon Casey, Damian Rhodes, Chris Terreri and Richter played collegiately in the 1980s and went on to the NHL. Then came goalies such as Jim Carey, Mike Dunham, Garth Snow and Thomas who played throughout the 1990s and would make it to the NHL. It continued into the early 2000's with young Americans like Miller and Al Montoya.

Young hockey players had seen two Olympic cycles with NHL players. The U.S. went from a medal-less finish in 1998 to winning silver in 2002. It was around that time when college hockey saw more young American goalies, such as Howard and Quick, become some of the best in the nation.

Howard left the University of Maine in 2005 and signed with the Detroit Red Wings before becoming a full-time NHL goaltender in the 2009-10 season. Quick left the University of Massachusetts after two years, signed with the Los Angeles Kings organization in 2007 and became a full-time NHL goalie in the 2008-09 season.

The 2009-10 campaign saw 12 American-born goalies play in the NHL. Five of them finished in the top 11 in games played.

Seeing the impact Richter had with the Rangers and how that continued with more Americans such as Miller and Howard was something that resonated with a young hockey fan who grew up in Commerce Township, Michigan.

That fan was Connor Hellebuyck.

"There were a couple guys I grew up loving, but the ones who come to mind are Mike Richter, Ryan Miller and Jimmy Howard," Hellebuyck said. "I know there are others I'm missing, but those three guys are ones I always look forward to talking to and I've gotten to know all three. I know Richter comes from a different era, but he was just the nicest guy ever."

THE ANSWER TO who holds the title of greatest American-born goalie isn't totally clear.

Everyone ESPN spoke to included Quick and Richter on their lists. Those two both acknowledged why it's such a challenging debate.

"It's difficult to compare in my opinion," Quick said. "I just appreciate guys for what they did, what they brought to the league, to their teams and I know people like comparing numbers. I've never been a fan of comparing the numbers. I don't think that ever tells the whole story."

Richter said what makes it a difficult question to answer is the team in front of the goalie will influence the numbers -- and that eras influence them as well. But he said stats are one way to be at least somewhat objective.

He used Barrasso and Quick as examples. Richter said Barrasso was "supremely talented" but was playing in an era that was far more prolific for offense, which is why he finished with a career 3.24 GAA, a number that would rank 70th among active NHL goalies.

Richter also raved about Quick. He said Quick, the nation's all-time leader in several statistics, has had "an exceptional career in every category" while noting he's the only American goalie to win more than 400 games while having a 2.49 GAA, which reflects how he's had consistency and longevity.

Barrasso and Quick each won multiple Stanley Cups.

"When you are looking at who are the best players, it's longevity, it's championships and it's what they meant to their team," Richter said. "It's a team game, and some are called on more than others but that doesn't mean it's always easier."

That's when the conversation shifts to Hellebuyck and whether he needs a Stanley Cup to ascend to the top spot.

Five of the American goalies who are in the top 10 in all-time wins have Stanley Cups. Three of them are in the Hockey Hall of Fame -- and Quick is likely to get there -- with Chico Resch being the lone exclusion. The five who didn't win a Stanley Cup -- Anderson, Hellebuyck, Howard, Miller and Vanbiesbrouck -- are not in the Hall of Fame.

Of those players in the top 10 in wins, five have won the Vezina. The only two to win the Vezina and a Stanley Cup are Barrasso and Frank Brimsek, who played from 1938-39 through 1949-50.

"I really have to emphasize that this is so inexact, because Marcel Dionne was a great player but he never won a Stanley Cup," said Richter. "You can't fault him for that necessarily. He's a Hall of Fame player. Championships are won and lost as a team. I don't think it's fair to determine if you're not mentioned in the breath with the best if you haven't won a championship in a team game."

Quick said: "Goaltending is a very dependent position on the guys in front of you and the coaching staff. It's the work that they put in that goes a long way in the goalie having success or not."

Thomas, who won two Vezinas and a Stanley Cup, said that Hellebuyck just needs to keep doing what he's doing.

"Based on what he's accomplished and what he's headed toward accomplishing, I wouldn't say that he has to win a Stanley Cup to be in that conversation," Thomas said. "But I would say trying to identify one person who is the greatest American goalie of all time is really hard to do because there are different circumstances for everyone."

Miller said Hellebuyck and the Jets have what might be one of his strongest chances to win that elusive title this season. The Jets entered the 4 Nations Face-Off with the most points in the NHL. They were nine points clear of the Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights.

But that comes with the context that the Jets might need to win the Cup now, considering they have several players -- including Nikolaj Ehlers, Alex Iafallo, Mason Appleton, Vladislav Namestnikov, Neal Pionk and Haydn Fleury -- who are pending unrestricted free agents.

"All this makes me think of Roberto Luongo. He was in a Game 7 and was one win away from winning a Cup, and he still doesn't have one [as a player]," Hellebuyck said. "But in my eyes, I still view him as one of the greatest of all time. There's a lot of things you can do to still feel like you've achieved a lot.

"That being said, I think most hockey players play the game to win a Cup. ... I don't think it's absolutely necessary on a resume. But it definitely helps."

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City have a "1%" chance of keeping their Champions League hopes alive by beating Real Madrid in Wednesday's playoff round second-leg clash in Spain.

Madrid, who won the competition for a record 16th time by defeating Borussia Dortmund in last season's final at Wembley, claimed a 3-2 first-leg win at the Etihad last week after scoring twice in the final four minutes to overturn a 2-1 deficit following two earlier Erling Haaland goals for City.

City have won just once at the Bernabéu -- a 2-1 round-of-16 victory in February 2020 -- and must defeat Carlo Ancelotti's team in Madrid to avoid an early exit in this year's competition.

Former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach Guardiola admits that his City team have a mountain to climb in the Bernabéu, but he says they still have a small chance of reaching the next round.

"The margin to win in Bernabéu in that position [3-2 down], everybody knows that if you ask before the game, the percentage to go through, I don't know, we arrive at 1%, or I don't know what," Guardiola said.

"It will be minimal, but as much as you have a chance, we will try, that's for sure, you know? "The chance is minor because the result was not good -- five minutes ago, with 2-1, it would be different.

"But with 2-3, the chance is less, but as much as you have a chance, we are going to take it, and we'll see what happens."

City have endured their worst season since Guardiola took charge in 2016 during this campaign, losing 12 games in all competitions and surrendering their title hopes by mid-season. And the City coach admits that, while this season has been hugely disappointing, Saturday's 4-0 home win against Newcastle could provide a springboard for a recovery going into final weeks of the campaign.

"Listen, there are many, many games that we didn't play the level we play, and at the end, we lost it," Guardiola said.

"And that was not just the three points, it's how it is affecting our minds for the next game. "It happened a lot of times. This season, the reality is that we have been miles, miles away.

Two spectators suffered serious injuries after a person fell from a middle tier stand into the lower tier during Sunday's Bundesliga match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Holstein Kiel, hosts Frankfurt said in a statement.

The injured people were treated by paramedics at the stadium before being taken to hospital. Two other spectators sustained minor injuries in the incident.

"We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a speedy recovery," the club said in a social media post on Sunday.

Third-placed Frankfurt beat bottom side Holstein Kiel 3-1.

James Maddison aimed a dig at Roy Keane after scoring the winning goal in Tottenham Hotspur's 1-0 victory over Manchester United on Sunday.

Maddison's close-range finish on 13 minutes settled a low-quality contest in north London, which came at the end of a week in which former United midfielder Keane said: "Maddison isn't bad when he's not at the darts...but if you think he's going to come back and get Spurs top six, you're in cuckoo land."

Speaking to the Stick to Football podcast, Keane added: "He's a talented player, but if you're a player in the Spurs dressing room and he's back in the squad, you wouldn't be looking and going, 'James is back today -- we're going to be fine!'"

The 28-year-old marked his close-range finish by throwing an imaginary dart and then putting his finger to his lips in a silencing motion and afterwards, he told Sky Sports: "There was a little bit of outside noise this week.

"People will have their opinions. I wanted to do my talking on the pitch today so I hope there's a certain few that enjoyed me being the match-winner today.

"Nobody is more critical of myself than me. To be fair to the gaffer, he always talks about blocking out the outside noise, but sometimes it is difficult, it is constantly in your face.

"You can use it [as motivation], but I think the gaffer prefers it when we're just in our little bubble and just listening to him.

"But sometimes it is difficult because it is constantly in your face these days with social media, WhatsApp and people sending stuff. You do see it and it is there. Sometimes [it is fed through to my phone], especially when it is a big high-profile name. But listen, it is about responding in the right way and I did that today."

Spurs moved up to 12th place in the table with United languishing in 15th place and Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou said of Maddison: "Everybody has mentioned his celebration, but I didn't see it so I can't comment on it, but it doesn't surprise me that Madders didn't accept what was being said about him and threw a shot back over the bow.

"It's just great to have him back. He is a quality player. If you just look at his goals return from midfield this year it's still right up there. He got frustrated when he got injured and to be honest we didn't think he would be back for a couple of weeks but he has worked awfully hard in training and done everything right to make sure he was available.

"I think that is the key thing for us and we have seen it with all our players, particularly in recent times. The injured lads are all desperate to contribute. They have seen what the other guys have gone through and are just pushing hard."

Postecoglou acknowledged the difficult situation Ruben Amorim is in at United, who were missing 12 players through injury and illness, but the Australian coach quickly added he wouldn't be sending any sympathy cards.

"If I check my office, I don't have any sympathy cards from other managers, so that hasn't happened," Postecoglou said. "There's definitely a few [injuries]. I could see Ruben there, players out of position, kids on the bench.

"Well, welcome to my world. But that's for one game. Now do that for two months. Do that for two months. Any club. Do that for two months. I thought Man United were good today, considering all that, and we had our days when we were good, we beat Liverpool in this spell."

Argentina great Ángel Di María has said he continues to take medication to cope with the disappointment and pressure of losing three straight finals with his national team.

While the Benfica winger won the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Copa América at the end of his Argentina career, he had previously lost two Copa América finals and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in a three-year span.

"Because of that I'm still taking the meds," Di María told Infobae as reported in ESPN."I was able to reduce it [dosage]. I'm much better, but that's something a little addictive, too ... These are things that stay with you, that mark you."

Di María was one of the heroes after scoring the only goal against Brazil in the Copa América final in 2021 and the first one for his team in the win over France at the 2022 World Cup final.

He said he feels sorry for many of his former Argentina teammates that didn't experience title glory.

"Who remembers the boys that reached that World Cup final and didn't win?" he said. "Very few, it seems unfair to me. Who is talking about those kids? Nobody. Very few can tell you how they played. I said it a lot of times when we became world champions, when we won the Copa América, I always said that those trophies were also [thanks] to the previous generation."

Despite still playing at a competitive level, Di María, 37, retired from international duty last summer and has no regrets.

The former Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain player scored 31 goals in 145 appearances for the Albiceleste.

"I was there for 16 years [with the national team] and it is as if I had been in a club," Di María said. "It's difficult, but I think I made the right decision. It's obvious that it tempts me because it's the national team. I achieved everything I wanted to achieve. I left the way I wanted to leave ... "I hope one day I can be there again, in a different role."

Liverpool could move 10 points clear of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League if they beat Aston Villa in midweek, but if they lose then Arne Slot's team could travel to Manchester City on Sunday with their lead cut to four and the first signs of a title wobble developing.

Bigger leads than seven points have been lost in Premier League title races -- Manchester United threw away an eight-point lead with six games to go in 2011-12 -- so Liverpool will be entering hazardous territory if they start to let their foot off the gas.

It's difficult to gauge where Liverpool are at. With a gap at the top, they are seemingly on course for a first title since 2019-20, but recent results and performances have hinted that trouble could lie ahead and the prospect of a much closer title run-in than many had anticipated.

In isolation, their FA Cup fourth-round defeat at EFL Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle could be dismissed as an outlier result suffered on a day when virtually all of Slot's regulars either watched from the bench or their sofas, having been given a day off. But losing to a team anchored to the foot of the Championship table at the time didn't reflect well on Slot's fringe players and their ability to step in if needed during the run-in now has a significant question mark hanging over it.

The Plymouth defeat was followed by a chaotic and dramatic Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park, which ended in a 2-2 draw after James Tarkowski's 98th-minute equaliser for the home side. Then came the 2-1 home win against Wolves on Sunday which steadied the ship, put Liverpool back on a winning trajectory and restored their seven-point lead after Arsenal had briefly reduced it to four by winning at Leicester City 24 hours earlier.

Yet the Wolves win was edgy and unconvincing. It ended, according to Opta, with Liverpool failing to register a single shot in the second half of a Premier League game at Anfield for the first time since 2003-04.

There are two ways to assess the match: It was either a classic case of a title-winning team grinding out a victory while performing poorly, or it was a sign of things beginning to go awry.

Virgil van Dijk is one of only three outfield players -- alongside Fulham's Antonee Robinson and Brentford's Nathan Collins -- to have played every single minute of every Premier League game this season. Star forward Mohamed Salah has missed only 35 minutes of Premier League football this term, while midfielder Ryan Gravenberch has been absent for only 110 this season. Van Dijk (630), Salah (602) and Gravenberch (585) have also been Liverpool's most active players in their UEFA Champions League campaign this season.

Those numbers -- and similar workloads registered by Alexis Mac Allister, Ibrahima Konaté and Luis Díaz -- are why Slot rested so many players at Plymouth. The FA Cup exit will ease Liverpool's fixture list and give the squad some much-needed breathing space between now and the end of the season, but recent performances have suggested fatigue is already having an impact.

This is why the upcoming period is so crucial for Liverpool. Slot's side travel to face Aston Villa on Wednesday, City on Sunday, then face Newcastle at Anfield on Feb. 26. These are three huge Premier League games that could make or break their title challenge.

If Liverpool win all three, they can start to plan for a Premier League trophy parade, but any defeat would give Arsenal and third-placed Nottingham Forest, who meet at the City Ground on Feb. 26, the belief that the race is still on.

And why shouldn't they still hold out hope of a late surge to the title? Arsenal were 12 points behind reigning champions Manchester United on March 1, 1998, but Arsene Wenger's team still ended the season as Premier League champions. Two years earlier, Kevin Keegan's Newcastle moved nine points clear of Sir Alex Ferguson's side -- having played one game fewer -- with a 2-1 win at Middlesbrough on Feb. 10, but United reeled Newcastle in and overtook them to win the title in the final week of the campaign.

Man United and Arsenal, in 1996 and 1998, sparked their title surge with a win away to Newcastle and United, respectively, during the run-in, but while Forest have already played Liverpool twice -- winning at Anfield and drawing at home -- Arsenal are due to travel to Anfield on May 10 on Matchday 36/38 in what could be a title decider if Liverpool lose momentum in the weeks ahead.

Although Liverpool led from the front to win the title under Jurgen Klopp in 2019-20 -- the club's first title since 1990 -- they have a poor record when it comes to holding their nerve in Premier League title races. Indeed, they have led the table on New Year's Day on seven occasions, but in five of the previous six, they have failed to finish on top.

Liverpool blew a nine-point lead in the 2018-19 season, so their seven-point advantage right now might just feel a little more vulnerable due to previous failures and the fixture list now looming.

This week will be a key moment in Liverpool's title challenge and the next few games could be the ones that make all difference.