When Mika Noronen started two games in a row and displayed some outstanding goaltending, Sabres fans were hoping they finally found an answer in goal. But when Noronen went down with a groin injury most fans were skeptical whether Marty Biron could handle the chores in goal. Noronen was the second of the 3 Buffalo goalies to be injured in less than a month. Ryan Miller, who had handled all the goaltending duties broke his thumb in a freak practice accident.

Now with both goalies out, everything fell on Biron's shoulders. Biron has been inconsistent his entire career with Buffalo. He would have one good game and then turn in a poor performance the game after.

The Montreal Canadiens came into Buffalo having beaten the Sabres in the previous two games. Biron, being a French Canadian, wanted to have his best game yet to put down these Flying Frenchmen. That he did and then some. Biron made 40 saves and practically stood on his head at times against the Habs as the Sabres beat finally beat Montreal for the first time in 3 meetings. It was a must game for the Sabres if they wanted to stay in the race in the Northeast division.

Biron wasn’t lost for words after the game.

"Personally, Montreal's always a lot of fun to play because as a kid I grew up watching the Nordiques and hated their archrival from down the thruway," reflected Biron. "When you play them, not only do you get closer to them in the standings, it's a personal satisfaction also."

The Canadiens, while giving Biron his deserved kudos, still put most of the blame for the defeat on themselves.

"Obviously, he played well, but we didn't do a good job on the shots from the point," said Habs captain Saku Koivu. "(Richard) Zednik took a couple of shots where (Biron) didn't know where the puck was."

The Sabres opened up the scoring when Adam Mair came from behind the net and wrapped around a precision pass to Ales Kotalik, who didn’t hesitate swiping it in pas Habs goalie Yann Danis.

Mair, who has been playing some of his best hockey ever as of late, has picked up his game with both Briere and Dumont out and Taylor Pyatt injured in the first period with a fractured right wrist.

"I think a lot of guys stepped up to fill the void with Danny and J.P. going out and Taylor Pyatt going out early," said Mair. "It wasn't easy. We were scrambling at times, but we found a way to win."

Brian Campbell flipped a shot top shelf when Chris Drury fed him the puck to the left of Denis. The powerplay goal gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead.

The Habs came back in the third period, scoring their own powerplay goal by Richard Zednik, who got a perfect pass from Andrei Markov to Biron’s right. Biron had no chance on the play. Biron had to stay sharp the rest of the game as the Canadiens continued to pepper him.

Finally, Tim Connolly scored the clincher with 3 minutes to play. He took the puck all the way from the Sabres zone, skated up the left side, crossed over to the middle and shot the puck past Danis, sealing the Habs fate.

This was the fifth win in six games for Buffalo. They had beaten the New York Islanders 4-3 on Thanksgiving Eve via a shootout. It was a revenge game for the Sabres against the New York teams as the night before the Rangers had beaten 3-2 Buffalo in a shootout.

Biron, who allowed two goals against the Rangers, was perfect against the Islanders during the shootout and Tim Connolly scored the last of the two goals that gave Buffalo the two points.

The Rangers game was the second straight start for Mika Noronen. Noronen now knows how JP Losman feels. After waiting for a long time to start and playing well in his first two games, he suffers a groin injury that may keep him out for weeks. Losman, drafted with a #1 pick by the Sabres, broke his leg in a freak accident in training camp a year ago. And then when he finally gets to be the starter, he's pulled in favor of Kelly Holcomb. Only an injury to Holcomb get Losman into the starter position again.

Noronen made some outstanding saves Tuesday night against the Rangers. He injured his groin with under half the third period left and played until he was replaced in the shootout. The Sabres lost as they scored in 2 out of 3 attempts in the shootout, but the Rangers scored on all three attempts, with and Jaromir Jagr scoring the winner. Noronen injured his groin in the third period, but played out the regulation and the overtime. After he was beaten on the first shootout attempt, he was replaced by Biron, who was then immediately beaten by Michael Nylander. There was no stopping Jagr and the Rangers skated away with the two points.

Last Saturday night, Noronen was hot as he stopped 20 pucks and with the scored tied at 2, Henrik Tallinder scored with 4:21 left in the third period boosting the Sabres over the Boston Bruins 3-2. The Sabres were never behind in this one. While the Bruins managed to tie it up twice, Buffalo came on with just enough to preserve Noronen's first victory in over 2 years.

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