Congrats

To the NHL Siberia Flyers on finally breaking their franchise worst 13-game home losing streak last night over the Blues in overtime 4-3 at Wachovia Center. Team-leading goalscorer Simon Gagne scored twice including the deciding goal on the power play 27 seconds into OT to finally break the drought. It was their first home victory since defeating ex-coach Ken Hitchcock's Blue Jackets last November 24.

Team captain Peter Forsberg, who assisted on both Gagne tallies summed it up ending the home futility perfectly. It's our Quote of The Day:

"I think everybody in the building felt the same way. We have been close so many times. We deserve to win. We played pretty hard. It's just fun to win a game after losing so many."

Sabres' Gaustad Done For Season: After last nite's 3-2 come from behind shootout triumph, the Eastern Conference leading Buffalo Sabres got some bad news afterwards. It was learned that left wing Paul Gaustaud will miss the rest of the season due to a sliced tendon in his left leg. The freak injury occurred this past Wednesday when his leg collided with Senators' forward Dany Heatley. At first after having the cut stitched up, tests didn't reveal serious damage. But additional tests Saturday revealed otherwise finishing his season.

If you think this isn't a big blow to their playoff chances, you haven't been following Buffalo much. While Gaustad isn't a big scorer like Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, Thomas Vanek or Maxim Afinogenov, the second-year forward is a valuable forward who brings high energy to games and can center either the fourth line or play the wing on the third line. To show how much the former North Dakota product has progressed, in 24 less games this season, he already had the same amount of goals (9) and just two fewer points (22) than in his rookie year. Gaustad plays a bruising style utilizing his size (6-5, 222). He also had 74 penalty minutes and a plus-11 rating with three power play goals. The very versatile forward will be sorely missed.

It might force Buffalo to make a move as the February 27 deadline approaches. A Gary Roberts would be a perfect replacement. The veteran brings many of the same intangibles and also knows what it takes to win the Cup. He was a huge part of the 1989 Calgary Flames. Acquiring the current Panther should be on GM Darcy Regier's priority list as well as looking to get one more defenseman. Especially with the loss of Jaroslav Spacek. The ex-Oiler broke his hand while blocking a shot last night and will miss significant time. He had 20 points (5-15-20) in 53 games. Thinking about it, they really could use Jay McKee about now. Look for Regier to make a move to address this hole.