Sabres Week in Review
By Rick Anderson
December 23, 2001
Martin Biron proved that he was a capable NHL goalie two years ago when he came in for Hasek late in October and played until February of that season. While standing in for the injured Hasek, Biron recorded 5 shutouts and had many wondering why the Sabres needed to keep Hasek. Two years later, the Sabres fans are sorely missing the Dominator.
Biron was so shaky in the nets that Sabres coach Lindy Ruff called up Mika Noronen from the AHL's Rochester Americans to see if it could put a little fire under Biron. Noronen beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 and looked solid doing so. The next night, he wasn't as sharp as the New York Rangers got to him and Noronen had to come out in the third period as he twisted his back.
Wednesday night, Biron played his worst game of the season against the Chicago Black Hawks, allowing 4 goals in just half a game. Bob Essensa came in relief and was even worse, allowing 2 goals on just 4 shots. The Black Hawks beat the Sabres 6-5 in a game the Sabres would normally have won if they had adequate goaltending.
Noronen was recalled again from Rochester after that game and played against the Leafs in Friday's 3-3 tie with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Noronen looked sharp in the second period and put Ruff on notice that he is willing to stake claim on the Sabres No. 1 goalie position if Biron falters.
"Noronen is very aggressive,"lauded Ruff. "He challenges the shooter and gets out of the crease. He made a couple of real good saves in the second period for us and I think we built off those saves."
Biron was back in Saturday night and played respectable goaltending, but still allowed 3 goals (none of which were his fault) and has not won a game since December 4th.
Ruff thinks that with Noronen and Biron competing for the job, it should be a healthy situation.
"Our goaltender in the last two games has been an improvement for us," Ruff claimed. "That has allowed us to win hockey games.
"I thought Marty was very good. He made enough big saves for us at least to get us a point. In a game where, up front, we didn't have a lot of personnel that had much, the game was going to be scratching and clawing. He gave us every opportunity to win that hockey game."
While the Sabres only gained 1 point out of 6 this week in losses to Toronto and Chicago, they still showed signs of breaking out of their scoring woes. Wednesday night they popped 5 goals in and a couple years ago, that would have been enough to win a couple games. Maxim Afinogenov has suddenly found a scoring touch and until the game in Toronto, had scored 5 in 4 nights.
Chris Gratton, who says he expects to be traded this year, has started to show his physical presence again. Friday night against the Leafs, he parked in front of Curtis Joseph and his huge frame may have caused a screen to allow two of the Sabres goals in that game. He also won 12 out of 14 faceoffs, a fact that Ruff can't ignore. Because of Gratton's faceoff abilities, he should be taking more of the crucial faceoffs from now on.
Slava Kozlov has picked up his game since Ruff sat him a couple weeks ago. He got two assists and a goal against the Leafs on Friday. He now has 9 goals and 12 assists and is setting up a lot of scoring opportunities. One of his biggest roles seems to be lighting a fire under Afinogenov, a fellow Russian who was picked to play on Team Russia in the upcoming Olympics. Since the two have been teamed, Maxim has been firing on all cylinders.
The Sabres now have the Christmas break to reflect and get their heads back to where they should be. This has been a very disappointing season so far and if they don't kick it up a few notches and put together an impressive winning streak, they will not make the playoffs.
"If we get all of our areas firing, if we want to grab ahold of eighth place, that's our only goal right now," said Ruff. "And the majority of the damage is going to have to be done on the road."
The Sabres have had the cushy teams already and have lost to them. Teams like Columbus, Atlanta, and Florida have beaten Buffalo at home. They have also lost at Nashville and Pittsburgh. The hole is so deep, the Sabres may never be able to climb out of it.
The goaltending will have to get much better if the Sabres stand any chance of reaching the 8th and final playoff spot in the east.
Biron is facing reality and knows that his game has to get back to where it was two years ago when he was filling in for the Dominator.
"You can't look at a single game," explained Biron. "You gotta take that as maybe a starting point where you realize there's more to the game than just standing in net and making saves. There's a whole other aspect where you have to show guys you're focused. You have to make your teammates feel comfortable."
Darcy Regier, the Sabres GM, knows that he may have to pull the trigger to get the ingredient the Sabres seem to be lacking to make the playoffs. He is hoping that his goaltending will settle down so he can concentrate on finding some offensive help to improve the team to the point where they can make a late season rush.
"The goaltending, I believe, will get better, whether it's Mika or Marty," a hopeful Regier said . "Marty's going to play a lot better than he has in the past, but hopefully it's sooner as opposed to later. There's a sense of urgency. We've gotta get going here, whether it's goaltending, the play of our defense, the play of our forwards. We've gotta build on that."
With the Sabres tied with Tampa Bay in the 11th spot in the East, the sledding is going to be tough from here on out, especially with every team except the Rangers and Carolina having games in hand on Buffalo.. The Sabres have played 37 games, are 14-19-3-1 and have to get at least a 6-game winning streak going if they want to grab that 8th spot. For that to happen, everything has to come together after the Christmas break.
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It was a bitter pill to swallow. The Sabres fans have expected top notch goaltending ever since their inception. Having seen such greats as Roger Crozier, Tom Barrasso, Don Edwards and Bob Sauve, not to mention the future Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek, tend the pipes in the Sabres storied history, it came as a complete shock to see the horrendous goaltending as of late.
Martin Biron has to get his head back into the game if the Sabres want to get back into the playoff race.
[AP Photo]
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