Jordan Binnington, in his best moments, is a great goaltender. During his first year in the NHL, he was a Calder Trophy finalist and also won the Stanley Cup with the Blues that year.
But Binnington isn’t just known for his goalkeeping abilities. He’s perhaps best known for having one of the hottest temperaments in the league.
When Binnington got pulled from a game against the San Jose Sharks last year, he skated around the ice and pretended to punch a bunch of Sharks players. He also went after Sharks goalie Devan Dubnyk, who declined the offer to throw their gloves and fight.
During last year’s playoff game against the Colorado Avalanche, he threw a water bottle at Nazem Kadri. Binnington said he was frustrated after getting a knee injury in a battle for the puck with Kadri and that he couldn’t help but throw the bottle at him after seeing Kadri smiling and laughing in an interview.
But Binnington’s popularity didn’t rise after that incident, and he was at it again last night.
During last night’s game against the LA Kings, Binnington allowed five goals on just 19 Kings shot. The fifth goal came midway through the 2nd period, and as a result, he was pulled from the game by head coach Craig Berube.
Binnington wasn’t happy and took his frustration out on the Kings’ players. On his way to the Blues bench, he skated by the Kings’ bench to hand out some chirps. Of course, not every goalie would try to chirp when just allowing his fifth goal in 30 minutes of hockey, but Binnington isn’t like every other goalie.
The Blues stand at 3-5 so far in the season, and they’ll undoubtedly need a Binnington with better focus if they’re to turn things around.
