SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- For Minnesota Wild center Eric Staal, the Sunday game may be the slump-buster he needed.

The Wild scored a pair of early goals and held off a charge by the San Jose Sharks, winning 3-1 in a meeting of two Western Conference powers.

Staal, who has been mired in a month-long offensive slump, scored twice, and Zach Parise got things started in the first period for Minnesota, which moved back into first place in the Central Division, ahead of the idle Chicago Blackhawks.

The Wild (42-15-6) got 20 saves from Devan Dubnyk to win for the third time in their past four games. Staal added an empty-net goal with 1:49 to play.

"It doesn't always happen overnight," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said of Staal's rebound. "Sometimes it's got to go and then go slowly and then the next thing you know ... the good ones keep at it and break through. The ones that are not as mentally tough get frustrated, and it ends up going down to the bottom again."

San Jose, which leads the Pacific Division, got a goal from Melker Karlsson but could not generate enough offense to overcome the early deficit. Goalie Martin Jones had 25 saves, and he thwarted a trio of Minnesota breakaways, but the Sharks (38-19-7) opened their two-game road trip with a loss.

"Yeah, he was great. He made some huge saves," Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said, crediting Jones for keeping San Jose in the game. "It wasn't our best game. I think we got a little better in the second, and (in) the third there wasn't much either way, and we were pressing a little bit. It's something we can build off this game, and we're going to have to be a little bit better next time."

Minnesota emerged with a 2-1 lead after opening period.

Parise got the Wild on the board first, tipping a Jason Pominville shot between Jones' pads. Parise and Pominville missed the Wild's previous two games after a mumps scare in the team's locker room.

"From mumps to mumps," Pominville joked. "Everyone was laughing in the room."

Staal, who scored just one goal, into an empty net, in Minnesota's previous 19 games, beat Jones with a low wrist shot to make it 2-0 after a pretty behind-the-back pass from defenseman Matt Dumba.

"It was nice," Staal said after his fourth multi-goal game of the season. "It was a great play by (Dumba) there to get me some room. I had some time. It was one of those nights where if sometimes it doesn't go my way and I stay with it, I get rewarded. It was a nice job by a couple other guys making some good plays."

After Jones denied Wild defenseman Marco Scandella on a breakaway, the Sharks answered when Karlsson tapped a puck past Dubnyk after a Micheal Haley pass from behind the net at 18:26 of the opening period.

Pavelski was whistled for a four-minute high-sticking penalty late in the first period, but Minnesota managed just one shot on goal during the extended power play. Neither team scored in the second.

"There wasn't a lot of space, and I thought it was a hard-fought game," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "It's the kind of night were you need a power-play goal or something. You've got to win the special teams battles to win that game, and we didn't."

NOTES: San Jose was without D David Schlemko, who made the trip to Minnesota but was unable to play after sustaining a lower-body injury on Thursday in the Sharks' 3-1 home win over Vancouver. In his place, D Dylan DeMelo returned to the lineup. He had been out since Jan. 11 with a right wrist injury. ... Minnesota lost D Christian Folin in the first period after he was ridden hard into the end boards by Sharks LW Kevin Labanc. The Wild scored their first goal with Labanc in the penalty box for boarding on the play. Folin did not return. ... Minnesota signed 16-year-old Carter Casey to a one-day contract on Sunday and held a press conference to announce the signing, which was a part of the Make-A-Wish program. Casey played youth hockey in Breckenridge, Minn., until last year, when he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Wild coach Bruce Boudreau presented Casey with a team jersey. "We're out here worried about little things in the game, and he's fighting for his life," Boudreau said. "It just puts everything in perspective."