By Michael Rushton
The Phanatic Magazine
Don’t look now, but the Philadelphia Flyers may be heading into the postseason with – gasp – a red-hot goaltender.
Nitty fans be damned, Martin Biron looks like a clear-cut No. 1 netminder right now, which is always a great thing heading into the NHL’s second season. Biron won five of his final seven starts, and allowed only five goals in those five wins. That includes ending the season with shutouts over second-seeded Pittsburgh and New Jersey, seeded fourth for the upcoming playoffs.
Say what you want about the Penguins’ lackluster effort in Sunday’s season finale, but nobody can take away Biron’s clutch 22-save performance two days earlier over the Devils that put the Flyers in the postseason.
The strong point with Biron is that he rarely suffers meltdowns. Sure, he lets in some soft goals every now and then – what goalie doesn’t – but few worry about him heading into a game. He is rarely out of position, and is excellent at letting the referees know when the opposing team is in his area. While his constant gabbing surely annoys officials, it at least gets them looking into the crease for an infraction.
The same can’t be said about backup Antero Nittymaki, who is just as likely to win a game 2-1 as he is to lose it 6-2.
In his first full season with the Flyers, the entertaining Biron won 30 games in 62 appearances, one off the career-high 31 he posted in 2001-02. His 2.59 goals-against average was also his lowest since the 2003-04 season.
One thing that does work against the Flyers is the fact that Biron has yet to start an NHL playoff game in his career, but Nittymaki hasn't really tasted postseason hockey either. Biron has earned his chance to start this year's playoffs.
The 30-year-old netminder is peaking at the right time, seeing as Philadelphia has a date with possible league MVP Alex Ovechkin, who led the NHL with 65 goals this year. Alexander Semin, Viktor Kozlov and Sergei Fedorov are no slouches either.
However, the key to the series is going to be shutting down Ovechkin and letting his supporting cast try to beat you. And stopping No. 8 begins with the red-hot Biron.
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Michael Rushton can be reached at mrushton@phanaticmag.com
1 comment:
Biron definitely looks better right now but I believe New Jersey flat out admitted they never prepared for that game.
I like Biron but he also worries me when he goes behind the net.
Slightly related -- If it looks like we're going to be unable to re-sign Carter and Prospal, I think we should raid Nashville again and see if we can make a trade for Suter and the rights to Ellis. I'd feel incredibly confident going into next season if we had Biron and Ellis in net and Suter on D, not to mention the return of Gagne.
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