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Thomas Vanek finds offense with highlight goals (Video)

Josh Cooper

Thomas Vanek is having a nice bounce-back year with the Minnesota Wild.

The forward, who a year ago had his worst full season since his rookie year, is about a point-per-game player. And Tuesday he added a couple of highlight-reel goals in the Wild’s 5-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets.

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First Vanek fired a goal on a breakaway via a slap shot past Jets netminder Ondrej Pavelec at the 4:30 mark of the second period.

Then he slipped the puck through Jets defenseman Paul Postma and past Pavelec for his second goal of the game later in the second. This proved to be the game-winner.

"I just tried something. Obviously it worked out well," Vanek said via NHL.com. "Just a 1-on-1 opportunity, I had good speed coming through the neutral zone."

Vanek now has 12 points (six goals and six assists) in 14 games. Last season he had 52 points in 80 games – his first year with the Wild. Minnesota forward Zach Parise is currently "week-to-week" after suffering a sprained MCL last Thursday. He's still the team's leading goal scorer with seven.

The Wild initially expressed some concern about losing Parise's skill for the next few weeks.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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