"I think we had talked about it being a fresh start for him," Laviolette said. "Any time you end the regular season and start the playoffs, it's a new season. You've got to make your way. If you remember back then, I had said that he was playing well at the end of the season. His line [with Mike Fisher and Viktor Arvidsson] really seemed to start to form some chemistry in a line that we could count on and started to produce some points.
"Even if it hadn't translated maybe the way it did in the playoffs, the chances were there, the zone time was there, the looks were there. In the playoffs here they got on the board. [Wilson] got on the board, which was great. He had a heck of a series for us."
Wilson gives the Predators a lot of options with their forwards when he's playing well. He has been in a top-six role at different points but has spent most of the time this season on the third line.
The Predators arguably iced the most talented, dangerous set of forwards they've ever had heading into the playoffs when Wilson wasn't playing as well as he wanted. Wilson's play in the first round added another highly talented layer to that group. His teammates know how effective he can be when he's on, particularly in front of the net.
"When he gets going, he's unstoppable," Predators defenseman Roman Josi said. "He's so big and so strong. He really showed that in [the first round] and came up big for us."