Marty Biron continued his torrid ways, winning his 12^th straight victory. The Sabres have become the embodiment of everything Buffalo fans love in their teams. They are the hard working, blue collar type of players that represent perfectly the lifestyle and demeanor of Western New Yorkers.

Friday night in Pittsburgh, the Sabres once again forged out a one-goal victory, this time a 4-3 overtime win over the Penguins.

The game certainly could have gone the other way. It had all the makings of a ambush for the Sabres to fall into. A couple Fridays ago, the Sabres were blind-sided by the lowly San Jose Sharks, who had just gotten Joe Thornton in a trade with the Boston Bruins. Thornton led the Sharks to an inspired 5-0 win against the Sabres in Buffalo. The new addition worked wonders to spark a Shark team that had been on a 10-game losing streak.

Flash ahead two weeks later and the Sabres were in a similar predicament. The Penguins were in turmoil and they fired their coach Eddie Olczyk, replacing him with former Montreal Canadiens mentor Michel Therrien. Were the Sabres walking into another ambush?

That was answered quickly when the Sabres scored less than a minute and a half into the game when Daniel Briere snuck one in on the short side, beating Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

However, the Pens came back, as they would 3 times in the game, to tie it up. Buffalo had a 3-2 lead late in the game when Ziggy Palffy tied it up with just a little over 2 minutes left in the game. The goal was under review for what seemed like ages, as Biron had caught the puck and swiped it out right at the goal line. Replays indicated that Biron’s glove was just over the line by an inch before he quickly swept his glove out. With the goal being allowed the fans went wild as they knew the game most likely was headed into overtime. They jubilation was short-lived as Briere finished the game the same way he started it, this time by setting up a quick goal that won the game. With the Sabres on the power play, thanks to Josef Melichar being called for hooking a minute into overtime, Briere got a shot off on Fleury that rebounded right to Chris Drury, who backhanded a shot the somehow trickled through Fleury’s pads at the 1:32 mark of overtime.

The Sabres leaped off the bench to congratulate Briere and Drury, but Biron got the most kudos as he tied the mark set by the Devils’ Martin Brodeur (during the 1997-98 season), who was the last goalie to win 12 consecutive victories.

You've gotta ride the hot hand. While Biron may still be the third man out in a trade that is likely to happen in the not too distant future, he still is enjoying his greatest success as a Sabre and a professional goalie.

Now the big question is whether you market Biron now that he's a hot commodity Some were saying that now is the time to trade Marty as you will never get a higher value for him. Trade him while he's the hottest goalie in the league. Others say you don't trade Biron now as he's doing so well, what happens if he's traded and the team then goes on the skids.

Most agree that Ryan Miller is the team's future. Biron is coming up on the end of his current contract and if the Sabres were ever going to trade one of their 3 goalies, this would be the time. Biron has the most NHL experience and many teams would now be interested. The question is how much could we get for him? A veteran defenseman? A first round pick? I still think that the market doesn't give that much of a return for goalies these days. Now we'll see how Regier deals with the 3-headed monster.

With the Vancouver Canucks losing their starting goalie Dan Cloutier for the season, the Sabres may be willing to entertain some proposals by teams like the Canucks. Biron is the man most mentioned as trade bait. Before the Sabres deal Biron or any goalie, they are going to see who both Biron and Ryan Miller do this weekend, as they play 3 games in 4 nights

The two teams go at it again tonight in Buffalo at 5 PM. Since the Bills are playing the Broncos in a prime time ESPN game at 8 PM, this game was moved forward 3 hours.

THE STREAK’S ALIVE

Not only has Biron had a long winning streak, but the Sabres themselves have not lost since that game a couple weeks ago against the Sharks. The Sabres have now won 13 out of 15 and are closing in on the Ottawa Senators, who are in a cooling down cycle after tearing up the league in the first few months. The Sabres have a record of 21-10-1with 43 points, while the Sens are 22-5-2 with 46 points. The Senators do have 3 games in hand over the Sabres, so when they make those up, they most probably will widen the gap.

This past week was a good one for the Sabres. On a Sunday that saw the Bills get trampled once again by the New England Patriots, the Sabres lifted the hearts of area sports fans by edging the Minnesota Wild 3-2.Mike Grier scored the winner with only 3:32 left in the game as the Sabres pulled out yet another one goal victory.

With former President Bill Clinton in the luxury box with team owner Tom Golisano, the Sabres pulled out a 4-3 win over one of their all-time tormentors, the Dallas Stars. With visions of Brett Hull in the crease dancing in their heads, the Sabres proceeded to knock down one of their former bullies.

Biron was at his best in shutting down the Stars powerful offense and the Sabres supplied him with all the goals he needed to win his 11th straight victory. They were chanting "Marty, Marty, Marty!" That was a first for Biron.

"I don't think it's ever happened, to be honest with you," laughed Biron. "The fans are really good in Buffalo. Even through the criticism they push me to work harder and be better and to be the goalie that I want to be and they want to see."

Stu Barnes came back to Buffalo and got a nice ovation when he was announced to the crowd for an assist he had on one of the Stars goals. However, he also got a flash back at a team he used to play for, the one that was the lunch bucket variety, "the hardest working team in hockey." That team is apparently back and the fans are loving it.

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