In Biron's dream, he is wearing powder blue and white - the colors of the long-forgotten Quebec Nordiques, who left for Colorado in the 1995-96 season.

The Flyers goaltender grew up in Lac-St-Charles, a distant slapshot from Quebec City. His team was the Nordiques. And the Montreal Canadiens were their most hated rival.

"I used to paint my face blue and white as a kid," the 30-year-old Biron recalled. "We were big fans. My parents had season tickets in the early '80s for a few years. We used to go down for games."

Nords fans still talk about the Good Friday brawl in 1984 at the Montreal Forum: fourteen fights. So many, in fact, that referee Bruce Hood lost track of who was tossed from the game and who was not.

"My parents still talk about that game," Biron said. "How the Canadiens cheated. It runs deep. People who are Quebec fans will always be Nordiques fans. It runs deep within families. They will always have that feeling inside them."

Biron has that feeling deep inside him as well whenever he sees that "CH" crest of the Canadiens.

"Funny, but Marty never talks about it," said Danny Briere, admitting that he never knew his former Buffalo roommate painted his face blue and white as a child.

It has been suggested that when Biron is on the ice against the Habs in this series, he is yearning for revenge for what happened in the 1993 playoffs. He watched at Le Colisee when the Nordiques won the first two games, then lost four straight to the eventual Stanley Cup champions. Ron Hextall was the Nords' goalie.

"You grow up with the Nordiques, and it's been such a rivalry, it has to be a factor for him [in this series]," said goalie coach Reggie Lemelin, who grew up in Quebec City and spoke to Biron before the series about what it was like growing up there and playing for Boston against the Canadians.

"Whether you like it or not, there is some motivation in you from the background growing up," Lemelin said. "We've talked about him using that motivation."

Biron is outplaying the Canadiens' Carey Price in this series. Could this become Biron's childhood revenge?

"Nah, not so much," Biron said with a laugh. "It's fun when you go back home and watch TV and they talk about Game 1 in 1985 against the Canadiens as if it just happened.

"The history of it is the fun part. It brings the emotional part of it for me, the intensity of it to the game. It's like when there is a rivalry and history between two teams. It brings it more to the table."

Every player brings something to a playoff game that acts as motivation. Biron says he tries to remember that this is about now. This is about the Flyers, not the Nordiques.

"I don't think about it on the ice," he said. "But I can remember, and talking to Reggie, he'll say, 'Oh, in '89, we played Montreal.' You don't think about it. But it stays with you as you prepare for a series. You remember those things."

He was 15 during the 1993 playoff series against Montreal.

"My buddies and I went to Game 1, which they won in overtime. I can still remember where we were sitting," Biron said. "Scott Young did a wraparound, it goes in shortside off Patrick Roy's stick, into the net.

"I remember the entire series clearly. At 15, you watch the games, and you're into it. My face was painted blue and white at the games. If you couldn't go to the game, we would go to a pub and watch the game there. It was madness."

Did he cry when the Nords lost the series? Biron had to think about that for a few seconds.

"I didn't cry, but I remember thinking they were going to be really, really good," he replied softly.

Two years later, Biron attended the 1995 playoffs after the first NHL lockout. It would be the Nords' last time in Quebec. Biron would turn 18 by the time the draft rolled around that summer. He got a call from Alain Chainey, a scout for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

"Alain took me to a Rangers-Quebec game that night so we could talk," Biron recalled.

Biron came to the game wearing layers of clothing.

"At the game, I opened up my button-down shirt," Biron said.

Chainey was getting nervous as this beanpole lad, standing in the aisle, began stripping off his clothing.

"He's looking at me like: What am I doing? And I take off the top shirt and I've got my Quebec shirt under," Biron said. "It was a 5-4 or 6-5 overtime game. Joe Sakic scored in overtime, like he always does. . . . It was unbelievable. It was awesome.

"Even though I was being scouted by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, I didn't care. I told him, 'Right now, I have no affiliation to a team. My team is on the ice and I cheer for them. But in two months, if you draft me, I'll change over to you guys.' He thought it was funny. I was a die-hard Nordiques fan."

He still is.