Canucks fans went absolutely wild (from home) for Jake Virtanen’s first career playoff goal

Hailing from Abbotsford, BC, Jake Virtanen is a player who many Vancouver Canucks simply love to root for.

As you may have heard, fans have made a tradition of shotgunning beers after Virtanen scores a goal, with the intent to cheer Virtanen all the way onto his road to 20 goals.

When Covid-19 halted the NHL season in mid-March, Virtanen was sitting at 18 goals, so it was almost guaranteed he would have reached the marker.

After a disappointing performance at training camp in July, it was becoming clear that Virtanen likely wasn’t going to be in the Canucks’ game one lineup against the Minnesota Wild. It didn’t take him long to get back in the lineup — but even then — he wasn’t much of a difference-maker and fans were becoming increasingly disappointed with his performances.

Tonight, in the Canucks’ 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues, Virtanen got a chance to play alongside Elias Pettersson. The line was able to avoid the Ryan O’Reilly line and find some success at 5 on 5 thanks to some more favourable matchups.

One of those pieces of success came with just under four minutes remaining in the second period, in the form of the first playoff goal of Virtanen’s career:

Sure, it wasn’t the prettiest goal, but it was a tying goal and therefore, was an important one. As a result, Canucks fans absolutely lost their minds on Twitter. Enjoy.

This Canucks fan even shotgunned a *checks notes* Cookies and Cream Milk 2 Go/Nutella concoction.

Sorry, what?

TSN1040’s Jason Brough and Mike Halford — whose morning show was the birthplace of the #ShotgunJake movement — got in on the action as well, but since potty mouth Halford swore in his video, here’s Brough’s video:

It’s been a long time coming for both fans and Virtanen to celebrate this milestone, and considering the Canucks are now up 3-2 in the series, that could very well be the biggest goal of Virtanen’s career.

Chris Faber will have your full postgame report posted shortly, but this was a big night for the Canucks and for Virtanen.