Staal gets 1,000th NHL point in Wild loss to Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Eric Staal got his 1,000th NHL point, but the Minnesota Wild lost 5-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

Staal reached the milestone with a power-play goal at 12:37 of the first period. The 89th player in NHL history to have 1,000 career points, Staal has 429 goals and 571 assists in 1,208 games.
"I'm obviously proud of that, and I couldn't have got to this number or level without a ton of help from so many people," Staal said. "I think that's what I reflect on in this moment. It would've been nice to get a win, but hopefully there's a few more left ahead of me for the next couple years. It was nice to get that one out of the way."
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Patrick Kane had a hat trick, and Brandon Saad broke a 3-3 tie when he redirected Connor Murphy's shot from the point at 13:43 of the third period for the Blackhawks, who went four straight games without a win (0-1-3). Jonathan Toews had three assists, and Robin Lehner made 23 saves for Chicago (13-15-6).
"Obviously as everyone knows, we had a tough road trip and it's really easy to let that snowball, and I thought just coming to the rink today [I] felt a pretty good vibe," Lehner said. "No one was down, and I thought we had a pretty good game today. I thought we played really well."

Ryan Suter had three assists, and Kevin Fiala scored two goals for Minnesota (16-13-5). Kaapo Kahkonen made 22 saves.
"We weren't skating and they got some early goals," Suter said. "We had some push in the second, and then [we] just weren't able to get that fourth one in the third."
Kane gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 7:42 of the first period when he pushed in a rebound off a wraparound.
He scored his second of the game on a power play at 11:33 of the first to make it 2-0.
Staal scored on a power play with a one-timer from the right circle to make it 2-1 at 12:37. Minnesota was 0-for-18 on the power play in its previous six games.
Fiala tied it 2-2 on a breakaway with a wrist shot at 1:59 of the second period.

David Kampf redirected Murphy's shot from the point to set a new NHL career-high in goals (five) at 8:13.
Fiala's cross-ice feed deflected off Olli Maatta's right skate and trickled into the net at 14:20 of the second period to tie it 3-3.
"It's one of those games where it's 3-3 and you just want that bounce to go your way," Staal said. "Tonight, it didn't."
Kane completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal at 18:57 of the third for the 5-3 final.
"Yeah, it was nice to get one," Kane said of his eighth NHL hat trick. "You get two early on, you think maybe you have a chance at one. Obviously it came a little bit later in the game, but it's a huge fourth goal for us and I was able to finish it off with an empty net."

They said it

"When you're on the road and you get to the last 10 minutes of the game and you're tired, you've got to get it into at least overtime. We can't allow that. That's not good." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau
"We were under control. Obviously, they got the power-play goal and we ended up in a tie game again, [but] I thought the game was under control for the most part. [That] allowed our guys to come through in the end." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton

Need to know

Fiala has 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in his past 21 games. … Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek did not travel with the team after he sustained an upper-body injury in the second period of a 4-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Boudreau said he's hopeful Eriksson Ek will join the team Tuesday in Las Vegas. … The Blackhawks are 6-1-0 in the second game of a back-to-back this season. … Saad has three goals in his past two games.

What's next

Wild: At the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS)