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Hemsky fuels Oilers past Wild

Oct 26, 2007 - 5:53 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Ales Hemsky made certain that the Minnesota Wild left the province of Alberta unhappy.

Hemsky scored two goals in regulation and netted the decisive tally in the third round of the shootout as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Wild, 5-4, on Thursday.

The loss was the second in as many nights for the Wild, who fell to Calgary Flames, 5-3, on Wednesday.

During the shootout, Hemsky skated in on goaltender Josh Harding but fanned on his shot. The puck, however, continued to slide along the ice, between Harding's legs and into the net to give the Oilers the victory.

Although he scored the deciding goal, Hemsky did not feel like celebrating.

"No, I lost (the puck)," Hemsky said. "There wasn't too much to celebrate, but I needed something like that, and I'll take it."

While Hemsky was reserved, Shawn Horcoff was animated from his view from the bench.

"I don't know what it looked like on TV or upstairs, but on the ice, I thought he lost the puck three times," Horcoff said. "I was like, 'Oh shoot! Shoot it, why didn't you shoot it?'

"Then the second time, yeah, he lost it, and then he picked it up and put it five-hole. ... When they go in, you don't ask how. Let's be honest."

Horcoff also tallied twice and Raffi Torres added three assists for Edmonton.

Horcoff opened the scoring 3 1/2 minutes into the first period by deflecting defenseman Ladislav Smid's blast from the blue line.

"It's obviously big for us," Horcoff said. "We felt like outside the Calgary game (a 4-1 loss on Saturday), we played some pretty decent hockey the last few games and just haven't been getting too many bounces around the other team's net. Tonight, we did."

Hemsky followed midway through the session, scoring his first goal of the season after accepting a feed from Torres and beating Harding over the shoulder for a 2-0 lead.

With the goal, Hemsky became the 22nd player in franchise history to record 200 or more points.

After rookie James Sheppard halved Minnesota's deficit by converting a rebound with 6:36 expired in the second period, Horcoff scored his second of the game just 46 seconds later.

Horcoff's shot from the point initially was stopped by Harding, but the rebound deflected off defenseman Kim Johnsson's shoulder and into the net to give the Wild a 3-1 bulge.

"We were talking about getting some breaks, and we got them," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "Horcoff's goal was good technique on the deflection, but it hit another shaft and went in. We talked about getting a break or two, and we got it, and we got the final break on the shootout goal when he lost it in the back of the net."

Pierre-Marc Bouchard got Minnesota back within one with just over five minutes remaining in the second period. Defenseman Nick Schultz was denied by netminder Dwayne Roloson, but Bouchard gathered the rebound and put it in the vacant net at 14:43.

After Brian Rolston scored 2:16 into the third to tie the game, Hemsky added his second goal of the night five minutes later to give Edmonton a 4-3 edge. Hemsky fended off a Minnesota defenseman and muscled a shot, which went underneath Harding.

Mark Parrish answered two minutes later to tie it. Parrish shielded off a defender and pushed the puck past Roloson nine minutes into the period. "They won't say that we're a defensive team. Not anymore," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said.

Roloson finished with 26 saves, while Harding stopped 27 shots.

Prior to the game, the Wild signed defenseman Brent Burns to a four-year contract extension.