BIRON: What made the 2005-06 Buffalo Sabres so special

We hope you enjoy this week of "Sabres Classics" games on MSG, where we'll go back to some of the big moments from the Buffalo Sabres' 2005-06 regular season.
To understand how special that season was, you have to go back to March 2003.

We were in a downward spiral for the better part of the two prior seasons. The team was bankrupt, our owner was indicted for fraud, our best players were being traded away so we could lower the team's payroll, our paychecks were coming from different banks every two weeks, and nobody knew if the Buffalo Sabres were going to remain in Buffalo.
What started with Dominik Hasek being traded to Detroit a few months before quickly turned into the departure of fan favorites like Jason Woolley, Rob Ray and our captain Stu Barnes. There was even an announcement made at an earlier game that the team was going to be purchased by local businessman Mark Hamister, only to see his bid fall short for many reasons.
But then came March 2003 and Tom Golisano. The Rochester entrepreneur purchased the Sabres and saved the team from its financial woes, but the biggest moves were yet to come for the product on the ice.
On March 10, 2003, the day before the NHL Trade Deadline, the Sabres acquired Daniel Briere from the Phoenix Coyotes. A few months later, general manager Darcy Regier traded for Calgary Flames center Chris Drury, an acquisition that proclaimed, "The Sabres are back!" to the rest of the NHL.
The 2003-04 season was a first step towards success even though our team fell short of the playoffs, hanging in the race until the second to last game of the season. We were all hopeful for what the next season was going to bring.
But not so fast.
Collective bargaining differences between the NHL and the NHLPA forced the owner to lock the players out and the whole 2004-05 season was lost. It was lost for the NHL players, but not for the young prospects playing in the AHL, the best hockey league in North America that season. Players like Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, Derek Roy, Paul Gaustad and especially Ryan Miller were able to develop and play while everyone else was waiting to see if the NHL was going to be back for the 2005-06 season.
OK, enough backstory. Here's how I saw the 2005-06 season and what made it so special.

First of all, I was ready.
Mentally, I was ready for a breakout season. 2003-04 was a bounce back year for me after struggling through our bankrupt 2002-03 season. I was 28 years old, entering what was considered the prime years of a goalie's career at the time, and I knew we now had the skill and character on this team we needed. Mike Grier and Toni Lydman were great trade additions and Teppo Numminen was a key free agent singing.
Training camp was hard and Lindy Ruff was very much focused on making sure we were going to be the "most fit team in the NHL." Yikes!!! I didn't play at all during the lockout and although I felt like I was in great shape after the long offseason, I was definitely not in game shape yet!!
The coaching staff must have noticed because I didn't play at all for the first 10 games of the season!
I'm sure the team wanted to see how this new, young, shiny toy named Ryan Miller was going to fare in the NHL, but to not even get a start until game No. 11 was not the way I thought it was going to be for me that year.
Anyway, a 6-4 win in New York against the Islanders was not the eye-opening performance I wanted, but I got the job done and hopefully I was going to play a bit more.
Four days later, we were getting ready to play the Ottawa Senators at home and like many other morning skates, it ended with the forwards at one end and the defense at the other. Most often, the starting goalie would get to relax and save his energy for the night's game by facing point shots from the D. All of a sudden, a crowd was gathering at the players bench around Ryan Miller and I was told that he got a stinger on the right finger.
Well, it was more than a stinger. Millsy was going to need surgery and on my drive to the arena at around 4:30, I found out I was starting that night.
That game did not go well.
I gave up four goals in the first and got pulled, just to be put back in for the third period where I gave up three more. Martin Havlat and Daniel Alfredsson both had 4 goals each.
I got called into Lindy's office after the game and both he and Darcy Regier laid into me for not being ready to play. I never really had a confrontation like this before. I wasn't sure how to handle it and my play showed on the ice. I lost four out of the next five games. The worst was another bad loss to the Senators - 6-1 in Ottawa on Nov. 12 - and that was the kick in the ass I needed.
I won 13 consecutive starts after that game!

I was in the zone and I really needed that. We were scoring tons of goals, almost four a game on average during that streak. We had some injuries to some key players like J-P Dumont and later on Daniel Briere, but somehow that gave us a chance to see what some of the prospects that were so good in Rochester the year before could do in the NHL.
Jason Pominville (8 pts in 12 games during that streak) and Derek Roy (10 pts in 13 games) were now a big part of the team and, finally, I was going to have a real chance to compete and play in the playoffs.
I'm playing every game and I'm winning - why would they not start me the next game? Well, Ryan Miller was now healthy and ready to play again.

It also was crunch time to complete the rosters for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino and Miller was being considered for one of Team USA's goalie spots. So we were just finishing our morning skate in Philadelphia, and expecting to start, I jumped in the shower quickly and made my way to the bus.
As the guys were getting on the bus, some made the comment that I should have stayed to take shots for the extra guys. That's when it dawned on me…I wasn't starting that night. I wasn't happy about it but understood the situation. It's not like I started all the games in that streak. Mika Noronen had a few starts and I would get to continue my streak the next time I would play. Unfortunately, I lost to the Florida Panthers the very next game and the streak was over!

We went into the Olympic break in mid-February playing well, but what happened after the break was what shaped us for the playoffs. Coming out of the break, we lost to Atlanta and then won eight in a row after that.
Briere and Dumont were back from sports hernia surgeries and with the success of Pommer and Roysie, it was almost too easy. We were winning games like 6-2 and 8-5, scoring tons of goals and feeling really confident. Then we lost six in a row.
I remember Lindy always preaching solid defensive play, but it was so easy to score goals that we didn't need to worry about defense. But losing that six-game losing streak where we gave up 26 goals was the wake-up call we needed. We finished the season with consecutive shutouts and we were now ready for playoffs.
About that last shutout: We were in Carolina and after the morning skate, we all went back to the hotel to grab our pregame meal. I finished my ice cream desert and went up to my room to get ready for my afternoon nap. J-P Dumont was my roommate. We usually would lie down from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30, a good two-hour nap to get ready for the game. Well, J-P never made it to the room that afternoon.
At about 4 p.m. he walked in, swearing up a storm in French, and was so angry at a couple of bad beats he had suffered while playing poker all afternoon. Apparently, the guys felt like the game that night wasn't a big deal since it wasn't going to affect our spot in the standings. They played poker all afternoon and barely made it in time for the bus to the rink.
I was starting in goal and now I'm thinking we're going to get blown out! But everybody played well, knowing it was important to me and to the team. We won 4-0. Drury scored to hit 30 and J-P didn't have any bad beats that night - he scored twice on the power play to reach the 20-goal plateau.
We were all in this together, from the captains all the way to the healthy scratches.
"Sabres Classics" games will start each weeknight at 8 p.m. on MSG and they will also be available on the MSG Go app. Check out the full schedule here and be on the lookout for more alumni interviews all week long.