On a night that saw the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks combine for 13 goals, it was what Blues netminder Jordan Binnington did after he left the cage that had everyone talking post-game.
Binnington was pulled in the second period of Saturday’s game against San Jose, after Sharks winger Evander Kane scored his second of the game — but the 27-year-old ‘tender didn’t do so quietly.
After allowing four goals on just 19 shots — two apiece from Evander Kane and Timo Meier — in the first half of the Blues’ game against San Jose on Saturday, Binnington was told his night was done.
But the 27-year-old didn’t go quietly, instead putting on a bizarre display and confronting a number of Sharks as he slowly made his way off the ice — first shoving Radim Simek by the Sharks’ bench, then trying to hit Erik Karlsson in the face with his stick, and finally getting into it with Devan Dubnyk before finally leaving the sheet.
While the Blues said they were fired up after Binnington’s on-ice antics, the Sharks didn’t find the exchange quite as humourous.
“I don’t know why he’s skating around pretending to punch guys… I just told him, ‘Get off the ice. Calm down,’” Dubnyk said of his exchange with Binnington, per The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford.
“He’s 160 pounds and out there swinging at guys… I don’t know why he’s out there fake-punching everybody, but I understand that guys get frustrated sometimes. He’s competitive, a good goalie, and he was obviously pissed off about something. That’s fine. We can look after ourselves.”
Binnington did receive a two-minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct for his confrontatioanl exit, and was not made available for comment after the game.
The Blues came back to win the game 7-6 after Ville Husso took over in net.
“It seems like (he does) a lot of talking,” Kane said of the Blues goaltender, whom he’s clashed with in the teams’ recent games. “Too bad I wasn’t on the ice for that.”
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