Biron outshines Byron in scoreless tie
By Rick Anderson
January 14, 2000
It was the Biron & Byron show Thursday as the two put on a goaltenders' clinic. The Sabres and Bruins battled to a 0-0 tie and they remain tied for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference . Biron played without a doubt his greatest NHL game to date as he made 39 saves and many of them were miraculous. Late in the third period, the Sabres' rookie goalie made a Hasek-like sprawling pad save as he slid out and kicked away a shot by Anson Carter with only 9 seconds left in the game. But Dafoe was equally as brilliant on the 23 shots he faced.
"This has by far been his best performance of the year," said Sabres' coach Lindy Ruff. "Earlier in the season he was giving up easy rebounds, but now he is sucking them up like a vacuum."
Both the Sabres and Bruins have been struggling this season and they took their frustrations out on each other in a gritty game. Biron had to be sharp as the Bruins, who have the third best power-play in the NHL, were awarded with 6 power-plays and came up with goose eggs.
Boston had a glorious chance to put the game away in overtime when P.J. Axelsson blasted a shot from the slot area over halfway through the O.T. stanza and was robbed when Biron made a phenomenal glove save.
Shaking his head, Axelsson said, "I tried to score five-hole, but he didn't leave much room to shoot at."
Bruce McCreary was the referee and he let a number of Boston infractions go by as he dished out 4 penalties to the Sabres compared to the Bruins 2 in the first period. That period went scoreless as the Bruins outshot the Sabres 8-6.
Martin Biron made a couple spectacular saves in the second period as the Bruins got another powerplay when Rhett Warrener got a hooking penalty. On one save, he was down on his knees and made a sprawling stop. In the first five minutes of the second period, the Bruins cracked ten shots off on Biron as compared to Buffalo's two shots on Dafoe. Boston continued to dominate in shots on goal as they tagged Biron with 18 shots to only 4 for the Sabres. In the third period, the Sabres were again outshot 10-8 but in overtime they got 5 shots off on Dafoe to the Bruins 3 on Biron.
One of the big factors for Biron's stellar game was his ability to cover up on rebounds. That has been one of his glaring shortcoming. Biron made so many spectacular saves that he looked very much like Hasek, especially in covering the puck whenever he could. With the four games off since the Sabres last game, it is apparent the Biron has been working with the goaltender coach on covering up the rebounds.
"When I'm on top of my game I find that the puck is really sticking to me, and the rebounds are always in my reach," Biron said. "A couple of games ago against Atlanta, the rebounds were off me and on their sticks. I wasn't on top of my game then, and it showed and we lost. It's a question of being ready and focused for the game."
Biron now owns a 15-10-1 record in this his rookie season. The impressive performance comes after he has been shaking in the nets for the past couple weeks and at a time when there have been rumblings about Dominik Hasek's impending return to the nets. This was the second 0-0 tie that Biron has been involved in this season. The last one came on December 8th when Biron and Ron Tugnutt dueled each other to a scoreless tie.
"You have to give Dafoe credit," Ruff said. "He made three great saves on Satan alone in the game. He is one of the toughest in the league when he's in alone, and Dafoe made some key saves."
"That was our best effort of the season from a defensive standpoint," Bruins' defenseman Kyle McLaren said ."We gave Biron a test, but a good goaltender is what you need to win hockey games."
"We gave up no goals. That's a step in the right direction, agreed Boston forward Steve Heinze. "It's defense first around here. You're not going to lose any games like that. We shut them down and didn't give them a lot of chances and had a ton of chances ourselves. The good part is we did have a ton of chances. Unfortunately, none of them went in."
The Sabres missed a great chance to move ahead of the Bruins in the standings. Three of their star scorers, Jason Allison ,Dave Andreychukand Sergei Samsonov were scratched for the game with injuries. Only seven Bruins who played last night were on the season opening lineup. The Bruins have also been in a horrendous slump, winning only three games since Thanksgiving and owning just one win in their previous 14 home dates.
"With the lineup the Bruins had tonight, it was almost like a preseason game," said Mike Peca .
The Sabres power-play continued to struggle as they had a hard time even getting a shot on goal during their man advantages.
The Sabres get right back into action tonight when they host the Montreal Canadians.
"It's a strange game," said Ruff. "There's been a lot of games where we deserved better and didn't get anything, and others where we deserved worse and did get a point. You hope by the end of the year it all evens out. There have been a couple of games recently that we should have won but didn't. Tonight, we probably didn't deserve a point, but we got a point. Don't ever try to figure this game out."
Curtis Brown was not happy with the team's performance.
Bryon Daofe recorded only his second shutout of the season. Last year he led the NHL with 10 shutouts and had a GAA of 1.99.
"I think we played a perfect game," said Dafoe. "And if you insert a couple of guys on the offensive zone, maybe we score a couple of goals. Obviously we miss [Jason Allison, Dave Andreychuk, and Sergei Samsonov]. Those are three guys who know how to finish.
"The guys played very well who were called up and it almost simplified the game for us," Dafoe continued. "They did the system perfectly. Where we came up short was not getting the puck in the net. You can't really pin that on them because it's not their forte. In our own end, it felt back to normal for me. It simplified it for me."
"Sometimes you never know what will happen," said Rhett Warrener, who injured his knee and won't play against the Canadians. "A 0-0 game is not real exciting for the fans or anyone involved, but a point on the road is better than nothing."
"We played as hard as we could tonight and skated and hit," said Ray Bourque. "We were really sound in our end. It shows you, if you take care of your end you're guaranteed to be in the game."
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"He came in with a lot of speed," said Biron. "The puck got through our defense in a hurry. I knew there wasn't much time. I just told myself to throw myself across the crease and hope he didn't want to go around me. He wanted to get rid of the puck, and he shot it right into my pad."
Martin Biron makes pad save on Anson Carter's shot in final seconds of third period
One of the biggest chances in the game came when Maxim Afinogenov took the puck from the corner and passed out to Erik Rasmussen who had a point-blank shot on Dafoe. Dafoe made a great save while on the seat of his pants keeping the game scoreless. Although Dafoe didn't the same barrage as Biron, the saves he did make were equally impressive, including game-savers on Curtis Brown and Michal Grosek in the third period.
Byron Dafoe stops a crashing Michal Grosek making one of his 23 saves and preserving the shutout
"We were our own worst enemy out there tonight," Brown said. "The turnovers and the foolish penalties .... let's just say it wasn't our best effort out there. Marty played well enough to hold us in there. Surprisingly late in the contest we had some great chances. We just couldn't put it by him (Dafoe."
Joe Murphy is on top of things as he knocks Richard Smehlik to the ice
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