Thomas Vanek finally found his way with Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Since entering the NHL as a 21-year-old with the Buffalo Sabres, Thomas Vanek has earned the reputation as one of the League's premier goal-scorers. Over that span, Vanek ranks second in power-play goals, ninth in goals and 11th in game-winning goals.

It's the reason the Minnesota Wild committed three years and $19.5 million to Vanek in July. But the season wasn't going according to plan for the Wild or for Vanek, who got off to one of the slowest starts of his career.

Minnesota's 16-11-1 start made it easy to forgive Vanek, who was traded twice last season after playing the first eight of his NHL career with the Sabres.

"I went from left to right, to left to right, and finding linemates hasn't been as steady as you'd want it to be," Vanek said last week. "That's what happens when you come to a new place, you try and find chemistry."

Vanek began the season on the second line and went nine games without scoring a goal. He requested to play next to Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund on the first line, but that didn't work either. With few other options, Vanek spent time on the fourth line, trying to get his game going.

Brought in to provide offense, Vanek had one goal in the first 20 games of the season.

In mid-December, the Wild lost five in a row before losing six straight in early January. After 41 games, Minnesota was 18-18-5 and in last place in the Central Division.

Following a 7-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 13, players had a lengthy meeting in the locker room. The following day, the Wild traded a third-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft to the Arizona Coyotes for goaltender Devan Dubnyk.

A 25-7-2 stretch since the trade has the Wild as the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Minnesota defeated the Calgary Flames 4-2 on Friday and on Saturday plays the Los Angeles Kings, who the Wild lead by five points.

Though Dubnyk has been a big part of the Wild run, Vanek has played a big role too.

He had seven goals and 18 assists in his first 42 games, was a minus-10 and was shooting 8.3 percent, about 7 points lower than the 15.1 percent he had in Buffalo. In 32 games since, Vanek has 13 goals, 12 assists and is a plus-6, shooting with better than 16 percent effectiveness.

After weeks of bouncing around from line to line and from left to right, Vanek said finding a home on the third line has been a reason for his success.

"That's the biggest thing, if you can find a couple guys and have some chemistry with them," Vanek said. "For me, being back on the left side helps a little bit. It's just the comfort of knowing who your center and right wing are going to be."

Playing with center Charlie Coyle and right wing Justin Fontaine, Vanek recently had an eight-game scoring streak, the longest active one in the League at the time. It ended Tuesday in a 2-1 shootout win against the New York Islanders, but it wasn't without a couple of quality chances that were shut down by goaltender Jaroslav Halak.

"He's bounced around this year, that's for sure," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "But he has the ability to be effective with any group of guys. He has the ability to be a guy who can break people down and make plays on his own. He's done that lately."

It took some time for Yeo to figure out how to use Vanek. A right-handed shot, Vanek said he feels more comfortable at left wing. But when the Wild couldn't find consistency on the right side early in the season, they needed Vanek to fill a top-six role there.

"I think he's more effective on the left side," Yeo said. "He creates a lot more from there. I think we've seen that lately."

An injury to left wing Jason Zucker combined with the addition of right wing Chris Stewart prior to the NHL Trade Deadline allowed Yeo to slide Vanek back to the left and on to the third line with Coyle and Fontaine.

"[Coyle] is a big man down the middle and I think he creates room for us on the sides, especially when I have the puck on the left, I think he's good at opening up space in the middle," Vanek said. "Fontaine is a good playmaker, good in the corners. He can shoot the puck but he can also find [Coyle] and myself."

Vanek has his 10th consecutive 20-goal season, but barring a binge in the final seven games, he likely will finish with the fewest number of goals over a full season in his career (25).

Part of that can be attributed to the slow start. But Vanek also is on pace for the fewest shots on goal in his career. On track for 177, that's five fewer than he had in 2009-10, when he missed 11 games.

During his time in Buffalo, Vanek averaged 231 shots on goal per season.

"I think it depends on who you play with. In the past, I've played with centers with John Tavares when I was [in New York] for a while and [Tyler] Ennis and the guys in Buffalo," Vanek said. "They had the puck more than I did and I was the guy who would find the goals and be in more of a shooting position.

"It just seems like now, I'm carrying the puck more into the zone than I have been in the past, and when you do that, you draw more people and you have to try and get your teammates more chances to score. I don't think it's by design, I just think it's the way the game is going for me."

Vanek's goal-scorer reputation has overshadowed the fact he's not a bad passer.

"Obviously, I knew about him [before this season], and heard about him and knew he's put up a number of goals, but I didn't know he was a playmaker [like he has been]," Coyle said. "I knew he was skilled but he can do it all offensively. He can make plays that most guys can't or don't even think of doing."

Vanek has a lethal shot, especially close to the net. Down the stretch, Yeo said he hopes to see it a little more often.

"I would like to see him get more shots, I know that would lead to some more offense," Yeo said. "But there also has been some times where I wish he'd shoot the puck and he goes down and makes a play to somebody who scores a goal, so a creative player like that, you also have to give him the freedom to make their plays."

Minnesota was eliminated in the Western Conference Second Round last season, one year after a first-round exit. Vanek's presence on the third line gives the Wild depth it didn't have.

"It's huge this time of year. The matchups that your first two lines are going to face are difficult both from a forward and defensive standpoint," Yeo said. "The games that we've won lately, it's not hard to figure out. We've generated offense from our third and fourth lines and they've taken advantage of, I don't want to say easier matchups, but some different matchups than our top two lines are facing. It's going to be important going forward."