"The last two games, the saves he's made, he has really given our bench a boost," Jeff Carter said of Biron. "Probably one of his best games as a Flyer. He's been unreal."
As Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette said between periods, "He looks like Ken Dryden out there."
Coach John Stevens didn't go that far but said: "Marty's had some great performances in the playoffs, obviously Game 7 in the first round. To get a split out here, I knew Montreal would play better and Marty would have to be our best player. And he was."
Biron had to have a career performance (34 saves) given the Flyers' innumerable turnovers, trying to make long, horizontal passes that were being picked off.
"We talked about the Washington series and we let one slip away," Biron said. "We came back hard in Game 2. We talked about how we had to buy time, get on the attack and buy some goals. We bought some time early in the game and got up 2-0. Tonight was different - we got that extra cushion goal."
The Flyers led by 3-1 going into the third period, when Montreal struck in fewer than two minutes on Andrei Markov's chip shot from the crease during a four-on-four. Montreal's pressure was relentless until R.J. Umberger's second goal of the game at 2 minutes, 21 seconds sealed it. He actually swatted his own rebound out of Carey Price's glove before backhanding the puck past the rookie goalie.
"Real gutsy effort by our team, because there were times when they might have outplayed us, but Marty kept us in it," Umberger said. "Great save after great save. In the playoffs, you have to find a way to win."
Biron took abuse, too.
"They were slashing Marty on more than one occasion," Danny Briere said. "Every time you push them, they like to fall on Marty. After they hit Marty, we push them and we get the penalty. We're trying to protect Marty. The NHL is going to have to help. We got warned about it. I think it should be the same for them."
