So why the doubt about Martin Biron? Why the despair and frustration over the Flyers' playoff chances before a puck has been dropped? It's as if last year didn't happen, as if he didn't have that spectacular playoff run, a run that included 16 saves in the third period of a Game 7 against the Washington Capitals, a run that ended only when his two best defensemen were eliminated from the equation.
As the sixth seed last season, the Flyers knocked off the third and first seeds before they hobbled into the Eastern Conference finals against Pittsburgh. Biron was more important than any of them in getting there, and his subpar performance in their lifeless Game 5 loss was hardly the main reason the Penguins took care of the Flyers as easily as they did.
So where's the love? Largely due to that run, we expected more from the Flyers this regular season than we got. And when Biron struggled in January - after an outstanding December - a deadline trade seemed imminent. The names changed almost daily, but you heard Minnesota's Niklas Backstrom more than most. The truth, too, is that you could punch a few holes in almost any of them, which is why their names came up in the first place.
You can punch holes in Biron's game, too. He gives up soft goals sometimes. He makes bad decisions sometimes with the puck. But you can no longer say he's not playoff-tested, or that he flinches or doesn't rise to the occasion. He's capable of stealing a game or a series. And that's supposed to be the litmus test, isn't it?
"People tend to have short memories," Biron said yesterday. "Very, very short memories. You look at Chris Osgood last year. It was Dominik Hasek all the way when the playoffs started last year. He comes on the scene and that's the guy. [Osgood's] won so many straight and playoffs start and . . . ''
