GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NHL: MINNESOTA (7-2) at EDMONTON (3-6)

EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Ales Hemsky made certain that theMinnesota Wild left the province of Alberta unhappy.

Hemsky scored two goals in regulation and netted the decisivetally in the third round of the shootout as the Edmonton Oilersdefeated the Wild, 5-4, on Thursday.


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


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


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


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

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


"I don't know what it looked like on TV or upstairs, but on theice, I thought he lost the puck three times," Horcoff said. "I<div class="pre">was like, 'Oh shoot! Shoot it, why didn't you shoot it?'</div>

"Then the second time, yeah, he lost it, and then he picked itup 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 assistsfor Edmonton.


Horcoff opened the scoring 3 1/2 minutes into the first periodby deflecting defenseman Ladislav Smid's blast from the blueline.


"It's obviously big for us," Horcoff said. "We felt likeoutside the Calgary game (a 4-1 loss on Saturday), we playedsome pretty decent hockey the last few games and just haven'tbeen getting too many bounces around the other team's net.Tonight, we did."


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


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


After rookie James Sheppard halved Minnesota's deficit byconverting 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 shoulderand 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 goodtechnique on the deflection, but it hit another shaft and wentin. We talked about getting a break or two, and we got it, andwe got the final break on the shootout goal when he lost it inthe back of the net."


Pierre-Marc Bouchard got Minnesota back within one with justover five minutes remaining in the second period. DefensemanNick Schultz was denied by netminder Dwayne Roloson, butBouchard gathered the rebound and put it in the vacant net at14:43.


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

Mark Parrish answered two minutes later to tie it. Parrishshielded off a defender and pushed the puck past Roloson nineminutes into the period. "They won't say that we're a defensiveteam. 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 afour-year contract extension.

 

NHL: MINNESOTA at EDMONTON

<div class="pre">------------------------------------------------
Minnesota 0 2 2 0 (1) --4
Edmonton 2 1 1 0 (2) --5
------------------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Edmonton, Shawn Horcoff 3 (Ladislav Smid,
Raffi Torres),3:30. 2, Edmonton, Ales Hemsky 1 (Raffi Torres, Shawn
Horcoff),10:42. Penalties: G Sanderson, Edm (hooking), 5:53; B
Radivojevic, Min (hooking), 12:49; K Johnsson, Min (delay of game),
12:54.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Minnesota, James Sheppard 1 (Branko
Radivojevic, Martin Skoula),6:36. 4, Edmonton, Shawn Horcoff 4 (power
play) (Denis Grebeshkov, Raffi Torres)7:22. 5, Minnesota, Pierre-Marc
Bouchard 3 (Nick Schultz, Mikko Koivu),14:43. Penalties: D Boogaard,
Min (roughing), 6:54; D Penner, Edm (tripping), 7:48; D Grebeshkov,
Edm (tripping), 12:25; M Greene, Edm (high sticking), 17:56.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 6, Minnesota, Brian Rolston 5 (Eric Belanger,
Pierre-Marc Bouchard),2:16. 7, Edmonton, Ales Hemsky 2 (Shawn Horcoff,
Dustin Penner),7:02. 8, Minnesota, Mark Parrish 4 (Wes Walz), 9:00.
Penalties: M Parrish, Min (high sticking), 3:31; B Rolston, Min
(holding), 16:01; S Gagner, Edm (high sticking), 16:01; K Johnsson,
Min (slashing), 17:37.

OVERTIME -- Scoring: None.

SHOOTOUT -- Minnesota, Petteri Nummelin (goal), Mikko
Koivu (missed), Eric Belanger (missed). Edmonton, Sam Gagner (goal),
Raffi Torres (missed), Ales Hemsky (goal).

Shots on goal:
--------------------------------------------
Minnesota 9 15 3 3 --30
Edmonton 9 8 13 1 --31
--------------------------------------------

Power-play Conversions: Minnesota - 0 of 4, Edmonton - 1 of 5. Goalies
: Minnesota, Josh Harding (31 shots, 27 saves; record: 2-0-1).
Edmonton, Dwayne Roloson (30 shots, 26 saves; record: 3-5-0). A:
16,839. Referees: Dennis Larue, Kelly Sutherland. Linesmen: Mark
Shewchyk, Ryan Galloway.</div>

 

NHL: MINNESOTA at EDMONTON

<div class="pre">-----------------------------------------------------
MINNESOTA 0 2 2 0 (1) --4
EDMONTON 2 1 1 0 (2) --5
-----------------------------------------------------

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Edmonton, Shawn Horcoff 3 (Ladislav Smid,
Raffi Torres),3:30. 2, Edmonton, Ales Hemsky 1 (Raffi Torres, Shawn
Horcoff),10:42. Penalties: G Sanderson, Edm (hooking), 5:53; B
Radivojevic, Min (hooking), 12:49; K Johnsson, Min (delay of game),
12:54.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Minnesota, James Sheppard 1 (Branko
Radivojevic, Martin Skoula),6:36. 4, Edmonton, Shawn Horcoff 4 (power
play) (Denis Grebeshkov, Raffi Torres)7:22. 5, Minnesota, Pierre-Marc
Bouchard 3 (Nick Schultz, Mikko Koivu),14:43. Penalties: D Boogaard,
Min (roughing), 6:54; D Penner, Edm (tripping), 7:48; D Grebeshkov,
Edm (tripping), 12:25; M Greene, Edm (high sticking), 17:56.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 6, Minnesota, Brian Rolston 5 (Eric Belanger,
Pierre-Marc Bouchard),2:16. 7, Edmonton, Ales Hemsky 2 (Shawn Horcoff,
Dustin Penner),7:02. 8, Minnesota, Mark Parrish 4 (Wes Walz), 9:00.
Penalties: M Parrish, Min (high sticking), 3:31; B Rolston, Min
(holding), 16:01; S Gagner, Edm (high sticking), 16:01; K Johnsson,
Min (slashing), 17:37.

OVERTIME -- Scoring: None.

SHOOTOUT -- Minnesota, Petteri Nummelin (goal), Mikko
Koivu (missed), Eric Belanger (missed). Edmonton, Sam Gagner (goal),
Raffi Torres (missed), Ales Hemsky (goal).

Shots on goal:
---------------------------------------------
MINNESOTA 9 15 3 3 --30
EDMONTON 9 8 13 1 --31
---------------------------------------------

Power-play Conversions: MIN - 0 of 4, EDM - 1 of 5. Goalies :
Minnesota, Josh Harding (31 shots, 27 saves; record: 2-0-1). Edmonton,
Dwayne Roloson (30 shots, 26 saves; record: 3-5-0). A: 16,839.
Referees: Dennis Larue, Kelly Sutherland. Linesmen: Mark Shewchyk,
Ryan Galloway.

INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS

MINNESOTA EDMONTON
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
M Gaborik 0 0 -1 4 S Horcoff 2 2 +2 4
B Rolston 1 0 +1 5 A Cogliano 0 0 -2 1
S Veilleux 0 0 -1 2 R Torres 0 3 +1 2
M Parrish 1 0 even 4 J Stoll 0 0 even 5
D Boogaard 0 0 -1 0 M Reasoner 0 0 -1 1
E Belanger 0 1 +1 2 M Greene 0 0 -1 0
K Foster 0 0 -1 0 J Jacques 0 0 -1 0
P Nummelin 0 0 -1 2 S Staios 0 0 +1 1
W Walz 0 1 -1 0 D Penner 0 1 +1 2
M Skoula 0 1 +1 2 M Roy 0 0 -1 0
K Johnsson 0 0 even 3 D Grebeshkov 0 1 -1 0
N Schultz 0 1 +3 0 K Brodziak 0 0 even 2
J Sheppard 1 0 +1 1 L Smid 0 1 +1 0
B Burns 0 0 even 0 T Gilbert 0 0 -1 2
M Foy 0 0 +1 0 M Pouliot 0 0 -3 1
M Koivu 0 1 even 2 G Sanderson 0 0 -2 1
B Radivojevic 0 1 +1 1 A Hemsky 2 0 +2 6
P Bouchard 1 1 +2 2 S Gagner 0 0 even 3
K Carney HEALTHY Z Stortini HEALTHY
P Demitra THIGH INJURY J Pitkanen KNEE INJURY
C Clutterbuck HEALTHY</div>

 

NHL: MINNESOTA at EDMONTON

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NHL
MINNESOTA 4
EDMONTON 5</div>

 

NHL: MINNESOTA at EDMONTON

<div class="pre">NHL MINNESOTA AT EDMONTON
NOTE: RESENDING BOX SCORE TO CORRECT MINNESOTA POWER
PLAY CONVERSIONS AND RECORD OF MINNESOTA GOALIE
JOSH HARDING.</div>