Capitals fan’s shocked reaction to controversial Canucks goal became his ticket to virality: ‘I’m just going to roll with it’

Washington Capitals fan Jeff Zhou got his 15 seconds of fame when his shocked reaction at the team’s Oct. 19 loss to the Vancouver Canucks went viral on X.

The three-second clip from Sportsnet’s broadcast posted by user Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) has been viewed over 205.6k times. It depicts Zhou in a shocked “surrender cobra” pose after the Caps lost a controversial challenge on a second period goal by Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers.

“The joy on your face when you get to see a Tyler Myers goal in person,” Arndt wrote teasingly in his caption.

During the chaotic sequence that prompted Zhou’s reaction, Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren made a save on Canucks forward Filip Chytil but was unable to freeze the puck. As Vancouver crashed the net, Evander Kane checked Tom Wilson from behind near the crease. As Kane got up, he knocked the puck backward while also appearing to knock Lindgren’s goalie glove off his hand. Myers then fired the puck into the yawning net.

Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery challenged the play, believing Lindgren was prevented from playing his position. The refs disagreed and awarded Vancouver a power play, which it converted, putting Washington in an early 3-0 hole that eventually proved insurmountable.

“I know exactly what that moment was,” Zhou recalled of the video capturing his disbelief. “[It was] when the refs announced that that goal stood. There were two main thoughts going through my head. The first was, ‘How could they count that as a goal? Like, Lindgren was down and Kane was laying on top of him in the crease.’ And then my second thought was, ‘Oh my God, we lost the challenge and now we’re on the penalty kill.’”

Zhou said he received a text from an old college friend during the first intermission informing him of his brief celebrity.

“So, this person – she’s a Canucks fan – I was like, ‘That’s odd, she’s asking me if I’m wearing a red Screagle jersey and a blue cap,’ and then I say, ‘Yes, I am.’ I think I took a selfie and sent it to her and she goes, ‘Yo, you’re on TV!’” Zhou recounted. “She sends me a picture and it’s just a freeze frame of me with my hands on my head with my mouth agape and I can’t believe Sportsnet caught that moment.”

That friend, Azadeh Kashani (who was featured by RMNB in 2020 for a chance encounter with former Capitals goalie Braden Holtby), actually didn’t recognize Zhou initially when he popped up on her screen.

“I didn’t realize it was him at first. I was just like, ‘Oh, that’s a funny reaction.’” She explained. “Then later, like on Twitter, when I was actually looking closely at it I was like, ‘Wait a minute. I know Jeff is at the game… Could it be?’”

Kashani received confirmation of Zhou’s appearance via the selfie he sent and tagged him on X when she found the video of his “cute little moment.” Zhou, also known as @real_jeff_zhou or “e-psychotic ovi fan” on X, quoted it and wrote half-jokingly, “This is not how I wanted my Twitter face reveal to go 😭😭😭😭.”

“I didn’t expect [to have my face shown like this,]” Zhou said. His post has accrued nearly three thousand likes in just over a week. “But I was like, ‘You know what, this is as good a face reveal as any’ and I’m just going to roll with it.”

“I didn’t mean to out his face reveal for him, but I was just really excited,” Kashani admitted with a smile. “He traveled so far for [the games], so he got a little souvenir out of it too.”

Zhou, a Vancouver native, began following the Caps for the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs “because of the Ovi factor.” He, too, still “can’t get over that Game 7” loss to the New York Rangers.

While in town from British Columbia, Zhou attended two Caps games (Oct. 17 vs. the Minnesota Wild & Oct. 19 vs. Vancouver) and was actually hoping to be seen by the cameras at Capital One Arena. He just wasn’t expecting to be digitally immortalized for the moment he was.

“I was hoping it would be more along the lines of cheering on an Ovi goal,” he admitted.

Zhou has a tradition of recording and posting himself flipping the numbers on the popular Alex Ovechkin goal counter bobblehead – which the team gave away to fans at a game in 2023 – every time The Great Eight scores. He actually planned on using it as a prop if Ovechkin scored while he was present.

“I brought the bobblehead with me,” Zhou explained. “I was thinking, ‘Maybe, the camera guy will catch me flipping the bobblehead [counter] after Ovi scored a goal.’”

While Ovechkin did score his 898th career goal in the Caps’ 5-1 win over the Wild, Zhou wasn’t successful in getting on camera. Instead he decided to be grateful for his moment of incredulity at the Vancouver game.

“I was hoping they’d catch [the bobblehead bit],” Zhou explained. “Instead they caught me with my hands on my head wondering, ‘How did they count that as a goal?’ But you know what, I’ll take it.

“It was three seconds of, ‘I know the camera is on me.’ It’s not like they were panning around the stadium. I’m pretty sure they knew what they were doing. They wanted to get my reaction.”

Zhou says he will continue to post his bobblehead videos as Ovechkin repeatedly beats his all-time goals record this season. He was hoping to be present for career goal no. 900 on this trip but he’s content having witnessed his first Caps win plus getting his own personal internet moment.

“This wasn’t how I was expecting to get viral like this but I’m going with it,” he said.