Wild rally past Devils with second-period outburst

NEWARK, N.J. -- The Minnesota Wild rallied to score three goals in 5:36 during the second period, and Alex Stalock made 38 saves in a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Thursday.

Mike Reilly, Joel Eriksson Ek, Chris Stewart and Eric Staal scored for the Wild (33-20-7), who hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Stalock, starting for the first time in eight games, made 16 saves in the third period.
The Wild trailed 2-0 early in the second period.
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Devils highlights]
"I've been working hard in practice, and getting those extra repetitions you need is huge," Stalock said. "It's kind of nice when a team comes out like that and puts a lot of rubber at the net; you start feeling it versus maybe only seeing five or six shots early on."
The Devils had three power plays (1 for 3) in the first period when they outshot the Wild 18-6.

Taylor Hall and Stefan Noesen scored, and Eddie Lack made 21 saves for the Devils (31-22-8), who hold the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Hall's goal in the first period extended his point streak to 13 games, the longest in the NHL this season. He has 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) in those games. Hall has 28 points (14 goals, 14 assists) during a personal 20-game point streak but missed three games with a thumb injury from Jan. 22-25. He is the fifth player since 1997-98 to have a personal point streak of at least 20 games.
"Twenty is a cool number," Hall said. "Unfortunately, it really hasn't resulted in as many wins as I would have liked. At the end of the day, that's what I'm here for, that's what we're all here for. I want to keep producing but at the same time win more games."

Reilly, Eriksson Ek and Stewart scored in the second period to give Minnesota a 3-2 lead.
"I thought the [Daniel] Winnik, Eriksson Ek and Stewart line was great all night, initiating the play and creating offensive looks and creating chances," Staal said. "Good teams have balance and have different guys step up and make plays and tonight it was those guys and [Stalock] in net."
Noesen had given New Jersey a 2-0 lead at 4:17 of the second.
Reilly scored after his shot from the left circle deflected off Devils defenseman John Moore and past Lack at 7:28 to make it 2-1. Eriksson Ek tied it 2-2 when he tapped the puck in off a pass from Winnik at 12:25. Stewart, playing for the second time in the past eight games, scored 39 seconds later when his shot from the left circle beat Lack between the pads at 13:04.
"You just have to stay on top of things and just come to work and when you get in the lineup you want to show them that you want to play every day and stay there," Stewart said.

Hall gave the Devils a 1-0 lead when he scored a power-play goal off a wrist shot from the right circle at 10:27 of the first.
Staal scored an empty-net goal with 1:18 remaining in the third period. It was his 900th point (380 goals, 520 assists) in 1,071 NHL games.
"I still feel like I have a lot of hockey left in my career but, nonetheless, it's a nice even number," Staal said. "It's been a lot of fun. A ton of credit to the guys I've played with over my career so far and I'm hoping for a lot more."

Goal of the game

Stewart's goal at 13:04 of the second period.

Save of the game

Stalock's save on Nico Hischier at 11:37 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Hall's goal at 10:27 of the first period.

They said it

"This time in the year you really have to count on your depth to pick the boys up and especially after we got down early and had all the penalty kills. [Our fourth line] was fresh and we had to use our legs. We are three big bodies who can control the puck and play down low and that's something we have to do." -- Wild forward Chris Stewart on his line with Daniel Winnik and Joel Eriksson Ek
"We were in control for most of the game. Guys played well enough in front of me. It's unfortunate that Stalock outplayed me. But you know what, I've got to have that third one. He found the five-hole. It was a good move by him but I've got to be better there." -- Devils goalie Eddie Lack

Need to know

After the game, it was announced the Devils acquired forward Michael Grabner from the New York Rangers for defenseman prospect Yegor Rykov and a second-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. … New Jersey forward Travis Zajac won 15 of 19 face-offs. … Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter had three hits and four blocked shots in 31:40. ... Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said goalie Devan Dubnyk will start at the Rangers on Friday.

What's next

Wild: At the New York Rangers on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG, FS-N+, NHL.TV)
Devils: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday (6:15 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)