Blues goalie Jordan Binnington suspended, fined after dust-up with Ryan Hartman
Jordan Binnington’s reputation around the NHL wasn’t exactly in good standing prior to Wednesday night’s 8-5 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
He’ll likely have to do some image rehabilitation now after the NHL suspended the St. Louis Blue goaltender two games for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct against Wild forward Ryan Hartman Thursday night.
Per the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, Binnington will be fined $64,864.86 for the incident, which occurred 12:25 into the second period.
Hartman, who scored his 11th goal of the year to put Minnesota up 5-4, tripped over Binnington’s left leg as he went to celebrate with his teammates. Binnington, who was out of the goalie crease when the contact with Hartman was made, then took his blocker and struck Hartman in the face.
Binnington, who was given a minor penalty for leaving the crease and a match penalty for the strike, leads all goalies with 27 penalty minutes this season.
“I mean, those blockers aren’t soft,” Hartman told reporters after the game, via TSN. “We don’t have much protection on our face. I’d say so [it was a cheap shot]. It’s nothing new from him. He’s been doing stuff like this for a while.”
Following Binnington’s actions, Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury attempted to fight the 29-year-old netminder but was subsequently stopped by the officials. It would have been Fleury’s first NHL fight.
“It would have been fun,” Fleury said, via The Athletic. “The crowd was up on their feet. I never had a fight in my career, so it would have been pretty cool. Too bad.”
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