Goalie spotlight: Florida Panthers
ESPN.com
Mike Vernon
|  | | The Panthers will rely on Vernon's experience and quick reflexes. |
Height: 5-9 | Weight: 170 | Age: 37
Experience: 17th NHL season
The lowdown: Vernon may not have the mystique of Patrick Roy, but he's won the Stanley Cup twice and has 134 games of postseason experience.
After a poor February -- when he lost six times in nine starts -- Vernon has played well the past six weeks. That's why he'll get the opening nod in the postseason.
At one point, Vernon complained about Florida's defense. Sometimes, that can negatively affect how the team protects its goalie. However, it hasn't appeared to be a big problem for the Panthers. The 37-year-old may not be the same guy who won the Cup for Detroit in 1997, but Vernon's experience will be invaluable, especially as the Panthers go against another Cup-winning goalie, Martin Brodeur.
| DARREN PANG'S ANALYSIS OF MIKE VERNON |
| How to beat Vernon |
How Vernon beats you |
| It's tough to beat Vernon. You have to still charge the net extremely hard and make life miserable for him. Otherwise, anything he sees, he will stop. He won't quit. |
Vernon has tremendous quickness. For an older goalie, I don't see him slowing down; that's remarkable. He can beat teams with his mind. He can beat any of the top goalies, and he has proven that. His teammates feed off that. Because of his quickness, he literally can ignite a team with a save.
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Career playoff games: 134 | Career playoff record: 77-52
1999-2000 stats: GAA: 2.47 | Record: 24-18-3 | Save. pct: .917 | Shutouts: 1
Vs. Devils in 1999-2000: G: 3 | GAA: 2.33 | Record: 1-2-0 | Save. pct: .927
Post All-Star Game stats: G: 22 | GAA: 2.36 | Record: 11-8-2 | Save pct: .920
Career stats: GAA: 2.97 | Record: 371-241-86 | Save. pct: .890 | Shutouts: 23
Trevor Kidd
|  | | Kidd has not been the same since injuring his shoulder. |
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 190 | Age: 28
Experience: Eighth NHL season
The lowdown: Kidd has been a shell of his early season self after coming back from his fluke shoulder injury. Since February, he has a GAA over 4.00 and his save percentage well under .900. In his defense, he hasn't had a long string of starts to get back into the rhythm he had at the beginning of the season.
Confidence may be a problem right now. Coach Terry Murray would probably go with Kidd if necessary, but the Panthers seem to be counting on Vernon, not Kidd, to shoulder the postseason load.
It's a matter of winning, and the Panthers haven't won much of late with Kidd between the pipes.
| DARREN PANG'S ANALYSIS OF TREVOR KIDD |
| How to beat Kidd |
How Kidd beats you |
| You have to get Kidd moving because I still don't think he has overcome the layoff. With his right shoulder injury, if you can get him to do some two-pad slides and going on the ice, he can be exploited. His mind-set may be that he could tweak the shoulder again. He is a very long-legged goaltender with long pads. If you can get him going down, I'm not sure of his recovery time getting back up. |
Kidd has no fear, and that's a great strength if he is playing well. He doesn't have a classic style that a shooter can fall back on. Shooters don't know what to expect from one save to another. |
Career playoff games: 9 | Career playoff record: 3-5
1999-2000 stats: GAA: 2.63 | Record: 14-11-2 | Save. pct: .915 | Shutouts: 1
Vs. Devils in 1999-2000: G: 1 | GAA: 5.08 | Record: 0-1-0 | Save. pct: .861
Post All-Star Game stats: G: 8 | GAA: 3.99 | Record: 1-7-0 | Save pct: .881
Career stats: GAA: 2.68 | Record: 114-108-37 | Save. pct: .905 | Shutouts: 16 |
