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Flyers beat Wild in advance of holiday road trip

Dec 24, 2013 - 4:07 AM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Wayne Simmonds tallied twice and Steve Mason stopped 26 shots as Philadelphia entered its holiday break with a 4-1 decision over Minnesota on Monday. Claude Giroux and Luke Schenn also scored with Jakub Voracek chipping in a pair of assists for the Flyers, who are off until Friday when they kick off a predominantly western-flavored road trip in Edmonton. Monday's hosts extended their home winning streak to nine for the first time since doing so from Oct. 7-Nov. 12, 2005. "You got a lot of pride when you wear the orange here in this building," said Flyers winger Scott Hartnell. "We come out flying and we come out hard. Two wins ago we had an epic comeback victory, so it seems like were doing it in different ways and tonight was a big solid twenty minutes for us. We played hard on the puck, we didn't stop there the last ten minutes of the game we kept at it." Mikael Granlund lit the lamp and Niklas Backstrom halted 27 pucks for the Wild, who stumbled to their third straight loss and fifth in seven thanks to the loss of Zach Parise -- a late scratch with a lower-body injury. Schenn gave the hosts a lead just 1:52 after the opening faceoff, on a hard shot from the right circle which came about since Hartnell worked the puck loose from behind the Minnesota net. Simmonds tapped in a puck off a passing play between Giroux and Voracek seconds into a power play and it was 2-0 at 10:51. Minnesota had 1:40 of a 5-on-3 advantage late in the first, and cashed in with 10 seconds left on the two-man edge on Granlund's shot from the right side. The Flyers re-established their two-goal edge just prior to the eight-minute mark of the second when Braydon Coburn's wrister from the right point sailed over Backstrom's shoulder thanks to a Giroux screen and tip. Mason ensured the lead held up with eight saves in the final 20 minutes, and Simmonds provided the exclamation point on his empty netter with 57 seconds to play. "I'm not going to paint a rosy picture about the last two games. I'm not going to make any excuses," said Wild head coach Mike Yeo. "Flat out, we need to better. It's every one of us, and the blame starts with me. This is not us, what we're capable of doing." Game Notes Giroux established a new career high by extending his scoring streak to seven games, during which he's registered 13 points (5G, 8A)... Voracek extended his career-high scoring streak to eight games, also totaling 13 points (6G, 7A) ... Hartnell earned his 500th career point with primary assist on Schenn's marker ... Minnesota has scored only 12 goals in its last nine games ... Philadelphia improved to 5-0-1 in its last six home games vs. the Wild.