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 If that was the case, he went out in a blaze of glory.
Hemsky scored two goals against the Ottawa Senators to pace Edmonton
to a 3-2 victory at Rexall Place.
"It was fun," said the 30-year-old, who left the game as the first
star, with the fans chanting his name. "I don't know what will
happen, but I had a great time here, the people treated me really
well. I met a lot of great people and I really appreciate what
they've done for me."
He said it was a great way to say goodbye.
"It's definitely nice," he said. "It's sad if it comes to the end,
but it is what it is. It's business. I guess we'll see (Wednesday)
what happens.
"I try not to listen (to the rumors), but it's hard when you've
played here for so long. I just tried to play my game, not think
about it. Just enjoy it. It was fun."
Hemsky began his final act by drawing an Ottawa penalty at 12:55 of
the opening period and going end to end score on the ensuing power
play. He added his second goal into the low corner to make it 2-1
Edmonton 8:58 into the second period.
Oilers right winger Jordan Eberle made sure Hemsky's efforts were
not for nothing, scoring his 20th of the season 4:26 into the third
period to make it 3-1.
"He's a guy I've looked up to since I've been here," said Eberle.
"To see him go off that way, if he does get traded, with two
goals... and it's great that the fans gave him a salute. He doesn't
get enough credit for what he's done for this city. For him to come
out and put up a performance like that, it's awesome."
The Oilers improved to 21-34-8.
Meanwhile, the Senators (27-24-11) might have just gone from trade
deadline buyers to sellers in a span of 60 minutes.
They are four points and four teams out of the final wild-card spot
in the Eastern Conference and absolutely needed to take two points
off the worst team in the West.
"It's a very disappointing loss," said Senators center and captain
Jason Spezza. "We missed a good opportunity to make up some points.
We saw that Detroit loss and not being able to win this game is
frustrating."
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The Senators were riding an emotional high after beating Vancouver
in front of 52,000 fans Sunday in the NHL's Stadium Series, but they
could not get it done against one of the worst teams in the league.
They opened the scoring on Spezza's goal 5:22 into the first period
and provided some late drama when defenseman Erik Karlsson scored
with three minutes left. But it wasn't enough.
"I don't think we were good enough in the first and second period,"
said Spezza. "We weren't doing a good enough job of getting zone
time in their end, we weren't there long enough and force them to
play defense.
"We got the first one and then we were a little bit flat through the
first period. You have to give them credit too, they defended well.
But I still think we needed to find a better way to stay in that
game."
The Senators had other chances, but Oilers netminder Ben Scrivens,
in his first start since signing a two-year deal, made a handful of
spectacular saves to quell any thoughts of an Ottawa comeback. He
made 34 stops overall.
"I thought we had opportunities to shoot the puck more and
overpassed," said Senators coach Paul MacLean. "I thought we
over-passed on a lot of occasions and one ended up in the third goal
against. We just didn't do enough to get the puck to the net and be
hard enough at the net."
NOTES: The Oilers placed D Corey Potter on waivers, a day after D
Philip Larsen cleared waivers. D Anton Belov is out with a torn
oblique muscle, so Edmonton went from nine defensemen to six in a
matter of 48 hours. ... With G Ilya Bryzgalov dealt to Minnesota and
newly acquired G Viktor Fasth unable to make it to Edmonton in time
for Tuesday's game against Ottawa, the Oilers dressed University of
Alberta G Kurtis Mucha and crossed their fingers nothing would
happen to starter Ben Scrivens. ... Ottawa GM Bryan Murray denied
that C Jason Spezza is being shopped around, but didn't say
unequivocally that their captain wouldn't be traded. ... The
Senators and veteran D Chris Phillips are said to be close on a new
deal. They want to get him wrapped up before the trade deadline
because he is eligible for unrestricted free agency in the summer.
... The Sens also placed LW Cory Conacher on waivers.
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