PHILADELPHIA -- Claude Giroux is excited about the way the Philadelphia Flyers are playing. Wayne Simmonds had two goals and an assist to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Monday night, extending their home win streak to nine games. "We got the four lines rolling. Everybodys playing great," Giroux said. "I think when you have a team effort like tonight, its a really good feeling. We can take it in for a couple days for Christmas here, and be ready to go on the road." The Flyers brought their record back above .500 (17-16-4). Luke Schenn scored first for the Flyers, on the teams first shot of the night, giving them a lead they never lost. Scott Hartnells assist on that goal was the veteran Flyers 500th career point. "It was a big win, more importantly," Hartnell said. "Its kind of cool to hit a century mark, but we wanted to end into this Christmas break with a big win. Everybodys got a lot of smiles on our faces. That was an amazing effort and a big win. Its huge." Giroux had a goal and an assist, extending his scoring streak to eight games, a new high for the Flyers captain. While the Flyers will be using their three-day break to celebrate, the Wild will have plenty of time to consider whats gone wrong for them in recent days. Mondays loss was their third in a row, a stretch of games during which theyve scored only four goals and sank to fourth place in the Central Division. "Its a good time for the break," Kyle Brodziak said. "We need a few days to really find what we need to do, and what every guy in the room really needs to do, however we need to do it, to break out of whatever funk we are in right now." With the loss, the Wild are 1-7-1 in their last nine games on the road. They fell to 2-7-0 lifetime at the Wells Fargo Center. Theyve lost six of their last 10 games. Mikael Grandlund scored the Wilds lone marker in the first period, a power-play goal during a 1:40 two-man advantage that cut the Flyers lead to 2-1. But after that goal, scored late in the first period, the Wilds offence all but disappeared. The Wild travelled to Philadelphia after falling to the New York Rangers 4-1 Sunday. Back-to-back games can be difficult, and goaltender Niklas Backstrom started both. He, along with many teammates, seemed tired. Wild head coach Mike Yeo wasnt about to use fatigue as an excuse. "Im not going to paint a rosy picture and Im not going to make any excuses," Yeo said. "Flat out, we need to be better. Its every one of us. It starts with me. We have to be better. What I mean is, this is not us. Plain and simple, this is not us." Across the ice, however, the Flyers felt as if Mondays effort was perfectly representative of their team identity. They scored on the power play (Simmonds first-period goal), they kept their defence tight and they played hard right up until the final horn sounded. They feel theyve managed to turn around a dire start to their season. "No one wants to let anyone down in here -- turning the puck over, making soft plays," Hartnell said. "When youre accountable to your teammates, the guy next to you in the dressing room, you play hard, you play smarter. Weve got to eliminate some simple penalties that weve been taking lately, but its been a lot of fun here at home. Weve got to take this show on the road here." Both teams will return from the days off with games in Canada -- the Wild in Winnipeg, the Flyers in Edmonton. But only the Flyers will be riding the momentum of a complete-game victory. "We definitely needed that," Simmonds said. "You guys asked if we were worried, I said no. We know what were capable of." NOTES: Zach Parise missed the game with a lower-body injury. . Jakub Voracek extended his career-high point streak to eight games. . Scott Hartnell is the 50th active player to register 500 points. Drew Bledsoe Patriots Jersey . Groves signed with Cleveland as an unrestricted free agent last year after a season with Arizona. He was in the linebacker rotation and had a sack in the season opener against Miami. Tedy Bruschi Patriots Jersey .Y. - Carey Price had an early feeling that one goal might be enough to settle the latest matchup between his Montreal Canadiens and longtime Original Six foe, the New York Rangers. https://www.patriotssportsgoods.com/Wome...nverted-Jersey/. James Erskine said Tuesday that Thorpe was "quite sick" in a Sydney hospital but dismissed media reports the swimmer might lose the use of his left arm. "Hes not in the intensive care," Erskine said. Steve Grogan Patriots Jersey . Cabrera-Bello shot a 1-over-par 73 and was caught by Webster, who carded 70 at Doha Golf Club for three-round totals of 12-under 204. They were only one stroke ahead of Adrien Saddier of France, the biggest mover with six birdies in his opening seven holes in a round of 64, South African Thomas Aiken (70) and Denmarks Thorbjorn Olesen (68) on a packed leaderboard. Rob Gronkowski Youth Jersey . The team announced that it exercised the options on 15 players including goalkeepers Evan Bush, Maxime Crepeau and Troy Perkins, defenders Matteo Ferrari, Karl W.LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Portland Trail Blazers are hoping theyve put all the bad habits behind them with the playoffs on the horizon. And with a healthy LaMarcus Aldridge providing his usual numbers, they are confident that they can make some noise in the post-season — with or without home-court advantage. Damian Lillard scored 34 points, Aldridge had 31 points and 15 rebounds, and the Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 124-112 Tuesday night. "We had a rough stretch, but now weve kind of picked it back up and were going in the right direction at the perfect time," Lillard said. "Now that were close to the post-season, we want to have that rhythm going into the playoffs — because thats what we play the regular season for." The Blazers fourth straight win, coupled with Houstons loss at Brooklyn, moved Portland within 1 1/2 games of the Rockets for fourth place in the Western Conference and home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. The Rockets have three games in hand. The Blazers have six games left on their schedule, five of them at home. One more win will give them their 12th 50-win season in the franchises 44-year history. But the last four times the team won 50 or more games, they didnt make it past the first round of the post-season. "We dont have a lot of control over that. Right now, its about winning every game and gearing up for the playoffs," coach Terry Stotts said. "Its that mindset thats the most important thing. Whatever happens with the seedings and all that — I mean, we havent even clinched a playoff spot yet." Nick Young, the fifth and last player off the Los Angeles bench, made his first eight shots and finished 15 for 26 with a season-high 40 points. But it wasnt enough to prevent the Lakers 10th defeat in 14 games. They slipped to 25-49 — the most losses by the club since finishing 33-49 in 1993-94. The franchise hasnt lost 50 games in a season since 1974-75 (30-52). "I didnt know I made my first eight shots," Young said. "I just got into a zone. I got into a rhythm kind of fast." Youngs point total was the highest off the bench by any player in the league this season, surpassing the 37 Jamal Crawford had for the Clippers on Jan.dddddddddddd. 25 at Toronto. Youngs high-point game in the NBA was 43, for the Washington Wizards against Sacramento on Jan. 11, 2011. "Nick Young had a lot of easy shots in the first half," Aldridge said. "Hes a great scorer, so hes going to score. But we did a better job in the second half of making his shots harder." Aldridge, playing his fourth game after missing the previous seven because of a bruised lower back, hit a 13-footer to cap an 18-9 run that extended Portlands two-point halftime margin to 81-70 at the midway mark of the third quarter. Young kept the Lakers within striking distance with his 3-point shooting, draining one with 10:47 left in the game to pull them within 93-86. But Lillard responded with a pair of 3-pointers 28 seconds apart to extend Portlands margin to 13 points, and Los Angeles got no closer than nine the rest of the way. "Coming in, we felt this could be a trap game against a team thats not in the playoff race. But we knew coming in that they were a dangerous team," Lillard said. The Lakers were bolstered by the return of Xavier Henry and two-time MVP Steve Nash, who played in only his 13th game of the season and came off the bench for just the third time in his 18-year career. Nash, who turned 40 on Feb. 7, had 10 points and 10 assists in 22 minutes. The eight-time All-Star has been plagued most of the season by nerve root irritation following his comeback from a broken left leg, which led to issues with his back, hip and hamstrings. NOTES: Lillard became the first player in Trail Blazers history to make 200 3-pointers in a season when he connected with 8:07 left in the first quarter. Wesley Matthews is close behind him with 186. ... The Lakers played before their eighth non-sellout crowd. Before this season, they had sold out every home game since Dec. 6, 2006. ... Portland C Meyers Leonard was ejected after his flagrant 2 foul on Kendall Marshall with 39.9 seconds to play. ... Portland C Robin Lopez had 10 points and 10 rebounds on his 26th birthday. ' ' '