Breaking down the Jordan Binnington, Marc-Andre Fleury non-fight
On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Mike McKenna discussed the goalie-centric melee between the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night. Former NHL goalie McKenna broke down all of the action as Jordan Binnington once again found himself at the center of controversy.
Mike McKenna: We had some fireworks on the ice last night didn’t we, Tyler?
Tyler Yaremchuk: Yep. We have goalie on the show here in Mike McKenna and we had some goalie fireworks last night. Let’s talk about Jordan Binnington versus Marc-Andre Fleury: the fight that never happened. Jordan Binnington gives up a goal, Ryan Hartman bumps into him, and then all hell breaks loose thanks to Binnington.
He goes after Hartman and throws a blocker, which he’ll have a hearing with Player Safety about today. Marc-Andre Fleury takes exception and comes down, but the linesmen don’t want them going at it and keep them separated. Jordan Binnington proceeds to fire up the crowd for some reason. Mike, take us through this play and what you saw from Binnington as a goalie.
The linesman refused to let Jordan Binnington and MA Fleury fight 😒 pic.twitter.com/JgotxV6aG8
— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) March 16, 2023Mike McKenna: I think Binnington is just frustrated, man. The Blues are up 3-1 five minutes into the second period and two minutes later they’re losing 4-3. Hartman makes it 5-3 with 4 goals in five minutes, and I think Binnington was just mad, dude. It’s been a long season and we’ve seen this before. When Hartman clipped him his wires crossed. He’s going to get suspended, I think. The league does not like thrown blockers; you’re basically using a weapon in their eyes. He’ll get a game or two for this.
Marc-Andre Fleury just talked this week about how he did not want to fight because it’s not the time of year and he broke a knuckle in juniors. Well here he comes tearing down the ice because Binner is going bananas at the other end. And it was Ric Flair night in St. Louis! It was perfect timing for all of this. Minnesota ends up winning 8-5 and Binnington gets tossed. Henrik Lundqvist said on TNT after that he would hide under a rock after giving up 5 goals and not fire up the crowd like Binner. It was just a wild affair, kind of classic Binnington. I think Fleury had just seen enough and said “it’s time to go.” The linesmen didn’t let it happen though; this is how we stop hockey from being big, isn’t it?
Tyler Yaremchuk: It would have been something if Jordan Binnington finally got into a fight. Both goalies were given minors for leaving the crease and Binnington was given a match penalty as well for the blocker to Hartman that started the entire thing. We’ll hear more from the Department of Player Safety at some point today.
You can watch the entire episode here …