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Hemsky propels Oilers past Blue Jackets

Jan 21, 2009 - 5:42 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Ales Hemsky made certain the Edmonton Oilers would skate into the All-Star break on a roll.

Hemsky capped a four-point performance by snapping a tie with 35 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oilers rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Hemsky netted his team-leading 13th and 14th goals and added a pair of assists for Edmonton, which secured its third straight victory.

"When you have four points or something like that, you are always asked if it is the best game in your career," Hemsky said. "For me, every game we win is what I feel good about. I just want to go out there and do my part."

"I haven't seen anything like that in a while where a guy... Two goals and two assists, we've seen that before, but never four absolutely world-class plays," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "They couldn't have come at a better time. He single-handedly willed the game for us. Just a terrific individual effort out of Ales."

Lubomir Visnovsky and Denis Grebeshkov also tallied, fellow defenseman Tom Gilbert added two assists and Dwayne Roloson made 20 saves for the Oilers, who improved to 5-1-0 in their last six games.

"They've been good all year," MacTavish said of his defensemen. "'Gibby' (Grebeshkov) is right on top of his game right now. He just makes a play now every time he touches the puck. He's got confidence, he's jumping up and he's getting real aggressive. That's what confidence does, it breeds aggressiveness, and that's what he's doing.

"Lubomir has played great. Great goal in the first, and he was flying all night. He made some good rushes and then was able to recover. Sheldon (Souray has) played great all year, and that's why he's going to the All-Star Game."

Jason Williams, Jared Boll and blue-liner Marc Methot scored in the second period and rookie Steve Mason turned aside 18 shots for Columbus, which fell to 4-2-0 in its last six.

Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock was not thrilled with his team's effort in the waning moments of the third period.

"We (threw) it away. We turned it over twice in the neutral zone and we gave it away," Hitchcock said. "They had nothing going, we were completely controlling the hockey game. We gave it away.

"We had a turnover with 47 seconds left. You can't do that. We turned it over to give them a power play, and then we made a terrible clear at the end of the hockey game. We had a great third period and we gave it away. Bottom line. Thanks."

With Columbus nursing a 3-2 lead late in the third, Grebeshkov received a brilliant feed from Hemsky in the right faceoff circle before wristing a shot past Mason with 4:42 remaining.

Hemsky capped the rally by forcing a turnover in the neutral zone and skating up the right wing into the offensive zone. While surveying his options, Hemsky unleashed a quick wrist shot that beat Mason just inside the left goalpost for the game-winner.

"I didn't have too much speed," Hemsky said. "'Pens' (Dustin Penner) and 'Horc' (Shawn Horcoff) came with me, and Pens drove the net pretty well, which gave me a bit of space and more time for a shot."

"You almost want to take a blanket out on the ice with you and throw it over (Hemsky)," said Columbus' Raffi Torres, who played the previous four seasons with Edmonton. "He's got tons of skill, he's one of the best players in this league and really underrated. He's a big reason why that team wins on any given night."

The Czech also set up Visnovsky's power-play goal 5:05 into the first period and gave the Oilers a 2-1 lead at 9:22 of the second by firing a wrist shot past Mason.

After missing 10 games with a concussion, Hemsky has collected four goals and two assists in two contests. But right now, he is just happy with the team's success.

"It was a huge win for us," he said. "Now everybody can relax for a little while and not have to worry about things. We'll regroup, and hopefully, we can keep it going.

"It felt great to win the game. It's a great feeling in this room right now."