Jake Virtanen has finally fostered the confidence of a pro.
With four goals and five points in his last five games, the 23-year-old Vancouver Canucks winger seems to have put his shaky career start — which included a season in the AHL — behind him.
Virtanen is on pace for what would be his first 20-goal season in the NHL, and his power-play blast over Matt Murray in the Canucks’ 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night is just the latest illustration of the forward’s increased comfort level on the main stage.
“I’ve been taking my game to the next level in the last couple of games,” Virtanen said Saturday during After Hours on Hockey Night in Canada. “I think I’ve just got to keep on doing that and playing really hard.”
But all that confidence doesn’t exclusively show up through the scoring uptick. The six-foot-one, 220-pound Virtanen has 60 hits in 37 games this season, a trait he deeply values in his game. In games where Virtanen has been physical from the start, his offence has immediately come through, and the winger sees a direct correlation between that and his improved numbers.
“If I get myself engaged at the beginning of the game and throughout the game, getting hits, I’m a little more involved and it makes me play a lot better,” he said. “I embrace it, I try to do it the best I can. I don’t want to be running around and out of place to make those hits, but when they’re there, I have to take them.”
Virtanen’s an old-school hitter. A high-school rugby player, he grew up watching highlights of big men like Hall of Famer Eric Lindros and acquiring an appreciation for that brand of hockey. The piling number of penalties he got for hitting in Atom (ages 9 and 10) is proof, since junior-hockey players aren’t allowed to hit until the Peewee level (ages 11 and 12).
Lindros’s influence, in any case, is visible through Virtanen’s shoulder-to-shoulder, clean-contact style of hitting.
“I was so into the hitting,” Virtanen said about his childhood days. “The hitting back in the day was a little bit more vicious, but I loved being physical.”
He wasn’t always this comfortable in the NHL, though.
During his first season, in 2015, it didn’t take long for the 2014 sixth-overall pick to experience the pressure and expectations that come with playing in Vancouver. After a 13-point campaign in 55 games his rookie year, and just one point through ten games to start the following season, Virtanen was sent down to the AHL’s Utica Comets, where he first worked with Vancouver’s current head coach, Travis Green.
“I’ve never been, really, cut from a team. So that was a big step for me, to go down to Utica, learn the game and learn how to be a pro,” said Virtanen. “I think the coaching staff did a really good job and it’s gotten me to where I am now.
“Your first time ever being cut from a team, you’re a little upset and you get down on yourself a little bit. But, coming back after the season in Utica, I had a fresh mindset and I just wanted to start fresh, and I think I’ve done well since.”
What’s as notable as Virtanen’s on-ice performance is the distinct and playful way Canucks fans have found to show appreciation for their hometown winger. Each time the Langley, B.C., native has scored this season, the term “#ShotgunJake” has instantly trended on Twitter. It’s a simple premise: Every time Virtanen scores a goal, Vancouver fans shotgun a beer.
Though Virtanen acknowledges it’s a running joke, he also thinks there’s a level of motivation to be drawn from the tradition.
“It’s fun to see the fans get involved and I like seeing that,” he said. “I’ll be walking down the street, just on a casual day, and people will be driving by and will yell out of their cars ‘Shotgun Jake,’ so it’s fun, I really enjoy it.”
Virtanen hasn’t joined the movement himself. He’s still waiting for a special occasion.
“I’m hoping if I hit my 20-goal mark I’ll do that.”
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