A wild playoffs Jake Virtanen appears

I said foolishly before the game five win, “I hate Jake Virtanen.”

It was the fact that he could dominate a game in a physical series if he wanted to but he didn’t, it irked me. “How could someone with all the tools in the shed not use any of them?”

Then he did.

I would be hard pressed to find another time where I was so happy to eat crow as I am now. The Virtanen that we were told about for years, the one that shows up in games that mattered and when the stage was biggest, arrived.

Coach Travis Green kept his finger on the blender button for games five and six which resulted in the ever elusive “chance” for Virtanen. Flanking Elias Pettersson and across from J.T. Miller, this was clearly the greatest opportunity that he’s had. Game five, he put up two points including his first ever playoff goal scored and shocked everyone by leading the team in corsi for percentage (CF%) with staggering 72.41%.

Encore? Oh he had more.

In game six, he didn’t get any points but was heavy on the forecheck with purposeful and intelligent reads — often one of the biggest knocks on his game. He again led the team in CF% with 57.14%.

Though he didn’t spend all of his time on that top line by any means, he showed that he can produce when there. He gave Green options. Something that Travis Green utilized with expert precision against the St. Louis Blues. Flashing out various looks that opposing coach Craig Berube couldn’t counter.

If Virtanen can continue to simplify his game by weaponizing his size and speed, he will be an instrumental piece to the Canucks playoff endeavours. The confidence is there and the tools are in hand. At the end of the day, the Canucks are a much deeper team when they have a hot Jake Virtanen at full speed.

Several times in game six, Virtanen would show off his speed by blowing passed the slower Blues defencemen.

And forechecking with tenacity, ready to lay the body.

I like this Jake Virtanen. I like this Jake Virtanen a lot.