Jordan Binnington can’t help himself.
Binnington went viral once again on Wednesday when he went after Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman after Hartman had given the Wild a 5-4 lead in the second period. Hartman skated by Binnington as he celebrated, colliding with the furious netminder and setting off fireworks.
But with the Blues goalie being separated from the scrum by officials, Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury sprinted the length of the ice, dropped the mitts and counterattacked for a potentially epic goalie fight.
However, the fling would not happen, as the officials kept the two apart to calm things down.
Binnington was assessed a match penalty and was ejected from the competition, accumulating a total of 17 penalty minutes. Fleury was given a two-minute minor for leaving his crease, while Hartmann received a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Binnington leads all NHL goaltenders in penalty minutes this season with 27.
NHL Player Safety announced Thursday that the 29-year-old will face a hearing for his actions.
Tensions bubbled beneath the surface throughout the game, with the Wild bench chirping Binnington minutes before things turned ugly.
“You just knew he was going to do something at some point,” Hartmann said,
“It was a tough game,” binnington said, “They are a tough team to play. They’ve been hitting the net hard and I thought it got to a certain point… the goals were going, so it was disappointing. I just felt, yeah, this was the moment.
“Nothing new than that,” said Hartmann. “He’s been doing this for a while.”
Fleury felt he needed to step up and give his counterpart a taste of his own medicine, especially after he heard Binnington land a wild skater spear in the first period, as reported. Joe Smith of The Athletic,
“I thought it was My Boy,” Fleury said. “I had to take care of him.”
“It would have been fun,” Fleury said. “The crowd was on their feet. I’ve never fought in my career, so that would have been great. worst.”
Binnington, never one to back down from confrontation, admitted that he would have embraced a showdown at center ice.
Binnington said, “It felt like this was our moment.”
Not only the qualified participants looked forward to it, but also their companions.
“You will simply love watching this – Binner vs. Marc-Andre Fleury on TNT,” said Brayden Schein. “If you’re looking for viewership and ratings and people talking about the game … that’s one way to do it.”
Binnington attempted to publicize the crowd after the skirmish; Considered a curious choice, he allowed his fifth goal of the night and held a comfortable 3-1 lead after the first period.
Ryan Reeves, a former teammate in St. Louis, said, “I had absolutely no idea what he was doing.” “He just got tackled, got a five-minute penalty and he’s trying to fire up the crowd? It was a weird time to fire up the crowd. Hey, appreciate the power play I guess.
For the proverbial cherry on top, Reeves gave an interview to the NHL for ages after the game on a TNT panel, wearing no shirt of course, as has become tradition in Minnesota this season.
Minnesota’s offensive onslaught would culminate in an 8–5 victory, with Hartman scoring two goals and Reeves joining in on the fun with his third marker of the season.
