Ottawa Senators' Kyle Turris (7) skates past Edmonton Oilers' Nail Yakupov (64), Ales Hemsky (83), Andrew Ference (21) and Ryan Smyth (94) as they celebrate in Edmonton, on Tuesday March 4, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
March 04, 2014 - 9:16 PM
EDMONTON - Ales Hemsky scored a pair of goals as the Edmonton Oilers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.
Jordan Eberle also scored and Taylor Hall had a pair of assists for the Oilers (21-34-8), who remain in second-last place in the NHL despite a 6-2-2 record in their last 10 games.
Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson responded for the Senators (27-24-11), who have lost three of their last four games in the midst of trying to move up into a playoff spot.
Ottawa struck first with a goal just over five minutes into the opening period. Milan Michalek sent a backhand pass from behind the net through a few bodies in front to Spezza, who was able to beat Edmonton goalie Ben Scrivens with a quick shot for his 16th of the season.
Edmonton tied the game up with five-and-a-half minutes left as Nail Yakupov hit Hemsky with a long power-play pass. Hemsky flew into the Senators zone before cutting in on net and undressing Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson with a backhand deke.
It was Hemsky's first goal since Jan. 12 in what may have been his last game in Edmonton after 11 seasons, if persistent trade deadline rumours have any validity.
Edmonton had a great opportunity to take the lead seven minutes into the second period as Hall picked off a Colin Greening pass and went in alone, beating Anderson with a high shot but ringing the puck off the crossbar.
Hemsky wasn't done yet. With 11 minutes left in the middle frame, Sam Gagner hit Hemsky with a drop pass and he picked the corner with a shot for his ninth of the season while Hall screened Anderson in front of the net.
Scrivens kept it 2-1 with four minutes left in the second as he came across quickly to rob Bobby Ryan on an attempt to deflect a shot from in tight.
Edmonton made it 3-1 four-and-a-half minutes into the third period as a Boyd Gordon shot deflected to Eberle at the side of the net and he had an easy tap-in for his 20th of the season.
Right after Edmonton's Nick Schultz fished a puck out of harm's way from behind Scrivens, the Senators made it a one-goal game with just under three minutes left to play. Karlsson walked around a pair of defenders and slipped a shot under the Oiler goalie's arm.
Ottawa pulled Anderson late in the contest, but couldn't get the equalizer.
The Senators play the third game of a four-game road trip in Calgary on Wednesday. The Oilers next play host to the New York Islanders on Thursday.
Notes: Both teams were quite active on the day before Wednesday's NHL trade deadline. Edmonton made a couple of moves involving goalies as they shipped Ilya Bryzgalov to the Minnesota Wild for a fourth-round pick and then acquired goalie Viktor Fasth from the Anaheim Ducks for third- and fifth-round draft picks. As a result the Oilers had to make a call out to the University of Alberta Golden Bears to utilize their goalie, Sherwood Park's Kurtis Mucha, as a backup. There was a social media outcry before the game urging the Oilers to give the one-game back-up opportunity to Team Canada's women's Olympic two-time gold medallist Shannon Szabados ... The Senators also made a trade on Tuesday, sending left-winger Jeff Costello to Vancouver in exchange for defenceman Patrick Mullen ... Both teams also placed players on the waiver wire, as the Senators made forward Cory Conacher and defenceman Joe Corvo available and Edmonton waived defenceman Corey Potter ... It was the second and final meeting between the two teams, with Edmonton winning the first match-up 3-1 in Ottawa on Oct. 19 ... Oiler Nail Yakupov returned to the line-up after missing one game with a foot injury.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014