ST. PAUL Adidas Gabriel Gagne Jersey , Minn. (AP) Those Minnesota Wild fans waiting in concession lines or lingering too long in the concourse during the first intermission sure missed a show.Eric Staal has put on quite the must-see performance himself this season.Staal¡¯s second goal of the night for Minnesota capped a franchise-record flurry to start the second period, and the Wild cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.¡±Everything he touches,¡± coach Bruce Boudreau said, invoking the Greek mythological king Midas, ¡±it turns into gold.¡±Staal, the second overall pick in the 2003 draft by the Hurricanes who spent 13 years with the club until a late-season trade, has 64 goals in 149 games with the Wild. That¡¯s tied for ninth in the NHL over the last two years. He¡¯s also tied for 17th with 132 points, and he¡¯s older than every player ahead of him in that span.This season, he¡¯s tied for fourth in the league with 36 goals, trailing Washington¡¯s Alex Ovechkin, Pittsburgh¡¯s Evgeni Malkin and Winnipeg¡¯s Patrik Laine.¡±I¡¯ve got a lot of work to do if I want to catch or be around those guys,¡± Staal said with a slight smile. ¡±I¡¯m just going to keep playing.¡±Nino Niederreiter, Zach Parise, Daniel Winnik and Staal scored in a span of 3:28, the fastest four-goal stretch in Wild history that gave the home team a huge lead less than four minutes after the first intermission ended.The sign that this was the Wild¡¯s night came quickly in the second period, when Jared Spurgeon¡¯s slap shot from the point bounced off the neck of a ducking Niederreiter and past goalie Cam Ward with just 23 seconds elapsed.¡±We¡¯ve got to come out of the dressing room a little bit more organized and ready to play,¡± Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said.Winnik scored on his 33rd birthday, prompting Peters to pull Ward for Scott Darling. Then, just 15 seconds later Adidas Mikkel Boedker Jersey , on the first shot Darling faced, Staal broke free in the Carolina zone, faked right and dragged the puck left to poke a backhander in for his 10th goal in the last nine games .¡±I want to win every time I get on the ice,¡± Staal said. ¡±But when you pump ¡¯em in like that for a bit, I think you feel a little bad.¡±In seven games since Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund joined Staal on the first line, the trio has combined for 16 goals and 19 assists. With 15 games to go, Staal has a solid chance at the third 40-goal season of his career.¡±I don¡¯t think anybody would¡¯ve thought he¡¯d have 36 goals at this stage of the game,¡± Boudreau said. ¡±I remember when we signed him, when we were talking in the room, and thinking if he could give us 50 to 60 points we would think it was a great signing.¡±Staal¡¯s first score came 4:35 into the game on the power play after a tripping call on Victor Rask, adding to Carolina¡¯s NHL-leading penalty total. Parise¡¯s goal was also with the man advantage for the Wild, who entered the game ranked eighth in the league on the power play. The Hurricanes came in 22nd on the penalty kill.The Wild, whose post-New Year¡¯s Day surge has thrust them into third place in the Central Division, are 10-3-2 in their last 12 games. They pushed their lead over fourth-place Dallas, which controls the first wild card spot, to three points.Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves for his fifth win in his last six starts, and the Wild raised their home record to an NHL-leading 24-5-6. Matt Cullen, another long-time former Hurricanes player who teamed with Staal on the 2006 Stanley Cup champion squad, scored late for the Wild.Phillip Di Giuseppe and Derek Ryan scored for Carolina in the third period on Dubnyk Adidas James Van Riemsdyk Jersey , who has allowed only nine goals over his last five victories.The Hurricanes lost points on each of the competitors in the Eastern Conference wild card race, with New Jersey (76) and Columbus (73) currently holding the two spots and Florida (71) also ahead of Carolina (69).¡±Let¡¯s look past this one,¡± Ryan said. ¡±Let¡¯s get rid of it and move on.¡±NOTESDubnyk¡¯s last shutout was on Feb. 10, a 44-save performance against Chicago. ¡­ Wild rookie D Nick Seeler was ruled out with a strained right biceps, two nights after he engaged in an old-style, bloody fight with Detroit¡¯s Luke Witkowski. ¡­ Hurricanes LW Joakim Nordstrom missed his fourth straight game because of an upper-body injury. ¡­ Spurgeon and Ryan Suter had two assists apiece. Wild defensemen have 166 points in 67 games, the second-most in the NHL behind Nashville. The franchise record is 169. ¡­ The Hurricanes had 31 shots on goal and lead the NHL with 52 games of 30-plus shots.UP NEXTHurricanes: Play at Chicago on Thursday, their last of three straight games against Central Division foes.Wild: Play at Vancouver on Friday, followed by a back-to-back game at Edmonton on Saturday.¡ª SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Having missed out on the biggest prize on the free-agent market, the San Jose Sharks are now content to wait and use their ample salary cap space to acquire a difference maker in a trade if one becomes available.The free agency period opened Sunday with star center John Tavares turning down an offer from San Jose to sign a $77 million, seven-year deal with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.The Sharks also finalized a $64 million, eight-year extension with Logan Couture but saw their hopes of teaming him and Tavares as a formidable pair of top two centers thwarted.Wilson said he viewed Tavares as the only difference maker on the open market in free agency and didn¡¯t feel like he missed out on getting another player while negotiating with Tavares.¡±It didn¡¯t really get in the way of anything else we were looking at because our commitment was to take this swing at him, and we knew that if we didn¡¯t get him and we couldn¡¯t match up to his childhood dream of him going home, we understand that,¡± Wilson said. ¡±But we¡¯re still positioned, just like we¡¯ve always been historically to add players through trade.¡±The Sharks still have approximately $20 million in salary cap space, some of which will be used to re-sign Joe Thornton in a deal that should be completed quickly, according to Wilson. San Jose also needs to sign restricted free agent forwards Tomas Hertl and Chris Tierney but will have money to acquire other players if they become available on the trade market.Wilson sees no reason to rush into any moves with a core in place that also includes high-scoring forwards Evander Kane and Joe Pavelski Adidas Christian Folin Jersey , defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns, as well as goaltender Martin Jones.¡±As far as exploring other players, we looked at it. John was the one that we wanted to swing at,¡± Wilson said. ¡±We feel that we have a very good hockey team. I mean we had 100 points last year without Jumbo and actually without Kaner most of the year. We scored 252 goals. We¡¯ve got a good hockey team, but I¡¯ve always explored every opportunity to add players of this ilk to our team, and that¡¯s what we did. But do we feel like we lost out on anything? No, not really.¡±Keeping Couture was much easier than luring away Tavares since he never had any desire to leave the franchise he initially joined as a first-round pick in 2007.Couture was San Jose¡¯s most dependable center last season, often matching up against the opponent¡¯s top line and providing plenty of offense of his own from the second line. Couture had a career-high 34 goals last year and was a major part of the power play and penalty killing units.¡±Everyone loves playing in San Jose,¡± Couture said. ¡±I don¡¯t just say that because I play there. You ask around the league and a lot of guys have heard all the great things about playing in San Jose and playing for the Sharks. I think that speaks volumes of why these big-name free agents have the Sharks on their list, because of the great things they hear about the organization, and there¡¯s much about the Sharks that makes it very difficult to want to leave. So I¡¯ve wanted to stay and I¡¯m very happy.¡±The 29-year-old has 213 goals and 224 assists in 582 career games. He also has been a postseason standout, leading the NHL with 30 points in 2016 when he helped San Jose reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history before losing to Pittsburgh in six games.Couture has 34 goals and 47 assists in 96 career playoff games, ranking in the top 10 in the NHL in playoff goals and points since making his postseason debut in 2010.He feels the pieces are in place for more postseason runs, even without Tavares on board.¡±Our team¡¯s goal is to win right now,¡± he said. ¡±It¡¯s not to wait a few years. We want to go out. We want to win. Obviously the goal going into next year is to win the Stanley Cup. That¡¯s many teams goal. I¡¯m sure Doug has many things he has going on but obviously that¡¯s not my job.¡ª