ST. LOUIS — You couldn’t have scripted it.
Or maybe it was scripted.
We’ve seen Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington fly off the handle before. OK, a lot. But on “Wrestling Night” at Enterprise Center, with the legendary Ric Flair in the house and a national audience watching the Blues and Wild at home? Wooo!
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We almost had a scene that would’ve made fans forget about the Curtis Joseph-Tim Cheveldae bout 30 years ago.
“You just would’ve loved to see it: Binner versus Marc-Andre Fleury on TNT,” Blues alternate captain Brayden Schenn said. “If you’re looking for viewership and ratings, and people talking about the game, that’s one way to do it.”
Even Flair himself, when asked by The Athletic, would’ve liked to see the two goalies go at it.
“Hell yeah, I was wishing that,” Flair said. “I would’ve loved that.”
Just caught up with Ric Flair.
Question: Do you wish they would’ve let Binnington and Fleury fight?
Flair: “Hell yeah I was wishing that. I would’ve loved that.” pic.twitter.com/hOAtJnwwxN
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) March 16, 2023
Well, we aren’t certain Flair was even watching. When Binnington and Fleury started circling around each other and drawing up their sleeves, TV replays showed Flair looking at his cell phone. But the rest of the 18,096 in attendance? Everyone, even teenagers, put down their phones for the main event.
Alas, it never materialized, as linesmen David Brisebois and Ryan Galloway drew the biggest boos of the night when they broke up what would’ve been the first fight in the careers of both netminders. Even so, it was all anyone was talking about after the Wild’s 8-5 win over the Blues.
The temperature of the game started to change in the second period when Minnesota’s Mason Shaw scored the Wild’s third goal in less than two minutes for a 4-3 advantage. The Blues called a timeout, and when Binnington was going back to the crease, he exchanged some words with the Wild.
What was being said?
“I don’t remember,” Binnington said. “It’s the heat of the battle.”
But Binnington does remember what happened next.
About five minutes later, after Pavel Buchnevich had scored one of his three goals to make it 4-4, Ryan Hartman regained the lead for the Wild with a power-play goal.
But after he scored, Hartman went through the crease area and bumped Binnington.
“We know the type of player he is,” Binnington said. “I actually like his game, to be honest. He plays the game hard and I respect it and it’s no problem. (But) he knows what he’s doing. He’s good at it.”
Binnington, who’s got a well-known reputation for responding in these situations … well, he responded. He went right after Hartman, and gave him a good shot with his blocker.
Brisebois, one of the linesmen, helped pulled Binnington out of the fray and wound up taking him down to the ice.
Blues coach Craig Berube, who’s shown some frustration with Binnington in the past when he’s partaken in the extra-curricular activity, wasn’t thinking that way Wednesday.
“Well (Hartman) went right in the crease and hit Binnington, so Binner reacted, which I don’t have a problem with,” Berube said. “Now, I’m not going to condone hitting like he did. That’s going to be a match every time. But he’s reacting on what Hartman did. At that moment, what Hartman did, it’s tough sometimes. I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘Well he should just take it.'”
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Binnington would eventually get a five-minute match penalty, which meant he was ejected from the game. But he got his money’s worth, as did the crowd.
Binnington got back to his feet, and with Brisebois still tugging at him, he clearly wanted a fight with Fleury, who had come down the ice wanting a piece, too.
“I’m not surprised (Fleury came down),” Binnington said. “I kind of think it was our moment, but I’ve got nothing but respect for Fleury, too. He’s a legendary goalie. Coming down there shows a lot about him.”
Was Binnington disappointed the officials didn’t let them go?
“Like I said, it kind of felt like it was the moment, but I’m sure they’re told not to let the goalies go,” he said. “That’s the game. That’s hockey.”
Social media lit up with fans wishing to see it. Of course, there was a large national faction that voiced its opinion about Binnington’s act, which they call tiresome.
“Obviously it’s happened a few times this year, but Binner is a good goalie and obviously got caught up in the emotion,” Schenn said. “If we would’ve seen a goalie fight, I think we would’ve been talking maybe a little bit different. It was close to happening.
“Whether it’s a part of his game, or whatever, it gets him going. You can’t control everyone, right? You have to worry about yourself and let him stop the puck and do what he does.”
There’s a segment of Blues fans in these situations who wonder why more teammates don’t come to Binnington’s aid, leaving him to fend for himself.
“Well, they maybe could’ve,” Berube said. “I don’t know if they saw it. They scored a goal, so guys are turning their heads or whatever. I’m not sure if anybody saw it.”
Blues defenseman Justin Faulk appeared to get a glance of the play and turned quickly toward Hartman, but then looked the other way. Once Binnington went after Hartman, however, Faulk and others jumped in.
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“I think when you get scored on, your mind goes different places of being pissed off yourself for getting scored on,” said Schenn, who was not on the ice. “Whether there’s five guys or four guys on the ice, some see it and some don’t.
“Once (Binnington) was in there, you see guys go in there real fast. It’s not like guys don’t care about our goalie or care about one another in here. That’s not what it’s about. He didn’t get run over. He just got pushed, or bumped, and it set him off, and once you see him go in, you see everyone with him. That’s a different case than him getting ran over by (Nazem) Kadri in the playoffs. It’s a different situation.”
Binnington got the five-minute match penalty, which he said he was “a little bit” surprised about.
“I don’t think I caught (Hartman) too clean,” he said. “He’s pretty good at diving. That’s his game and that’s totally fine. But that’s the ref’s decision, and that’s fine.”
Before leaving the game, Binnington tried revving up the crowd, which worked.
Schenn, though he didn’t actually see the sequence between Binnington and Hartman, asked Hartman to fight a few minutes later.
“That’s Rule No. 1 as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “I guess, that’s how I’ve been taught anyway. Binner wasn’t happy with what happened. I don’t know, I just pushed (Hartman), asked him to fight, and got a 10-minute misconduct.”
Schenn was none too pleased with the misconduct, swinging his stick against the wall on his way off the ice.
“Kelly Sutherland is an awesome ref and I have a lot of respect for him,” he said. “He didn’t really have an explanation. I think he was maybe caught up in the moment and thought maybe the game was getting out of hand. I didn’t say anything or punch Hartman or do anything. I simply pushed him, but it is what it is.”
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The game was something fit for pay-per-view.
As the horn sounded, Flair was walking off an elevator.
“I just met (Binnington) tonight — real nice guy,” he said. “I’ll tell you the greatest thing of all time, my friend Bob Probert punched out a goalie. I saw Patrick Roy fight a guy. I was upset when Clarence Campbell decided that fighting wasn’t going to be part of hockey.”
Then Flair yelled “Wooo!” to some passing fans and left.
You couldn’t make this up.
(Photo: Jeff Curry / USA Today)