Staal scores twice for Wild in win against Flyers

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Eric Staal scored two goals for the Minnesota Wild in a 4-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Staal needs one point for 1,000 in the NHL.
Zach Parise and Carson Soucy scored, and Alex Stalock made 17 saves for the Wild (16-12-5), who extended their point streak at home to 12 games (9-0-3) and are 7-1-1 in their past nine.
WATCH: [All Flyers vs. Wild highlights]
"It's always been an extremely difficult place for other teams to play, and we wanted to get back to that," Staal said. "In order to do that, you have to provide results and get the job done, and we've done that here lately. When you have that streak going and that momentum, you just want to ride it as long as you can."
James van Riemsdyk scored, and Carter Hart made 23 saves for the Flyers (17-10-5), who have lost two in a row and three of their past four.

Philadelphia played most of the final two periods with 10 forwards after Scott Laughton and Tyler Pitlick were injured.
"At the end of the day, we had a couple power plays at the end, we've got our top players on the ice," Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. "They've got to find a way to execute and make the other team pay when you've got that opportunity. We were right there. We were a shot away from making this a game and had our best players on the ice, and they need to find a way to get it done for us."
Philadelphia was 0-for-3 on the power play. Minnesota went 0-for-5.
Van Riemsdyk gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead 1:34 into the game with a shot on the rush from the right face-off circle that went in off Stalock's glove.

The Wild have allowed the first goal in three straight games but are 2-0-1.
"[We're] resilient," Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Look it, [Philadelphia] got that one goal-against right away, and then we came back again and constantly pressured them at that point. I thought that was a really good sign. We don't seem to get like big air out of our breath when they score. It's like you can hear it on the bench like, 'OK. Let's get back, let's get back at it.'"
Parise scored from in close off a pass by Kevin Fiala from behind the net to tie the game 1-1 at 6:16.

Staal scored on his own rebound at 7:51 to give the Wild a 2-1 lead.
He scored his second of the night unassisted on the power play at 9:47 of the second period to make it 3-1. It was his 999th NHL point.
Soucy scored shorthanded into an empty net at 17:46 of the third period for the 4-1 final.
"When you get results, you start to believe in that more and it continues to grow," Staal said. "Obviously, confidence is big and guys are playing really well. We just want to keep that momentum going."

They said it

"The only thing we can do is what's in our control, prepare those guys, whoever's coming. Whoever's going to be in the lineup, be ready to go. We need two points bad." -- Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere on their many injuries
"I've said it since Day One, this group has not ever been an underdog group going into the year. It wasn't must-win, get-to-the-Stanley-Cup year. That's what people were saying for this group. They've had it on their shoulders for how many years. To come in being underdogs, I think it's fitting for this group, for people to count us out and for us to kind of say we still got it here." -- Wild goalie Alex Stalock

Need to know

Pitlick left the game with 1:42 left in the first period, and Laughton left at 1:11 of the second. Vigneault did not have any updates. ... The 18 shots on goal were the fewest for the Flyers since they had 18 in a 4-1 win at the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 11, 2018. ... Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek was injured in the second period and did not play in the third. Boudreau did not have an update. ... Parise has 13 points (nine goals, four assists) in the past 15 games. ... Fiala has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in the past 20 games. ... The Wild are 0-for-18 on the power play in their past six games.

What's next

Flyers: At the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN3, NBCSP+, NHL.TV)
Wild: At the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSCH, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)