Sharks, Blues react to Jordan Binnington’s fiery exit from game

SAN JOSE — St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington did not have a fun night at SAP Center on Saturday.

And when he got pulled from the game midway through the second period after he allowed his fourth goal, he didn’t go quietly.

Binnington was pulled by Blues coach Craig Berube shortly after San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane scored at the 10:34 mark of the second period.

As Binnington skated toward the St. Louis bench, judging from his body language, he must have heard someone from the Sharks bench say something in his direction. Binnington circled back, shoved defenseman Radim Simek, who was standing in front of the Sharks bench, before he skated away.

But Binnington wasn’t done.

Since there’s no room for the backup goalie on the visitors’ bench at SAP Center, Binnington had to skate to the other end of the ice close to the Sharks net and goalie Devan Dubnyk. Binnington then faked a punch toward Erik Karlsson with his blocker hand before he continued toward the exit. As Dubnyk skated out to say something about that to his counterpart, Binnington shoved him, exchanging words with Dubnyk before he skated away.

“I guess he was frustrated, but I don’t know why he’s skating around, pretending to punch guys,” Dubnyk said. “I just told him get off the ice, calm down. He’s 160 pounds and he’s out there swinging at guys.”

Binnington was assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty for his actions, although the Sharks didn’t score on that particular man advantage opportunity.

“We all get frustrated. If you want to get into it with somebody, fine. But I don’t know why he’s out there fake-punching everybody. I understand guys get frustrated sometimes and he’s competitive, a good goalie and he’s obviously pissed off about something. But that’s fine. We can look after ourselves.”

Binnington allowed four goals on 19 shots when he was taken out at the 10:34 mark of the second period. His replacement, Ville Husso, stopped all 13 shots he faced for the rest of the period.

“I guess he’ll have something to report in his next interview,” Kane said of Binnington. “Seems like he does a lot of talking. Too bad I wasn’t on the ice for that.”

The Sharks led 4-3 after Kane’s goal, but the Blues tied it up on a goal by Zach Sanford with 1:44 left in the second period. Dubnyk had allowed four goals on 22 shots through two periods.

The Blues felt Binnington’s display fired up the group.

“I’ve seen him do that a couple times before, but I think that was good for us,” Sanford said of Binnington. “Obviously he was pissed off and we were pissed off. To see him do something like that and go out with some fire was good for us and getting Ville in there kind of kicking it up a level playing hard the rest of the way.”

The Sharks have had some success against Binnington this season, going 2-1-1 against him this season. In those four games, Binnington had a .902 save percentage and 2.93 goals against average.

The Blues got the last laugh, though, as Husso finished with 19 saves on 21 shots.

“Well, he’s a fiery guy. That’s kind of the way he is,” Berube said of Binnington. “We’ve seen that in the past from him. So, I didn’t think a penalty was warranted on it, but you know … he’s trying to rally the team, that’s what he’s trying to do.”