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Devan Dubnyk doesn’t know why Jordan Binnington was ‘skating around, pretending to punch guys’

By Ian Oland

 7 Comments

February 28, 2021 2:58 pm

The NHL had itself a viral moment on Saturday when St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington shoved and punched multiple San Jose Sharks players after being pulled by head coach Craig Berube.

Binnington surrendered four goals in the first 30:26 of the game and then went absolutely buckwild while leaving the ice.

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First, Binnington shoved Sharks defenseman Radim Simek, who seemed both confused and amused, at San Jose’s bench. As referees skated over to break over the potential melee, the masked man identified a new target, Erik Karlsson, and punched him in the face with his blocker pad.

Binnington kept in motion though and set his sights on another target, equally padded and protected human, Devan Dubnyk. Binnington clearly mouthed something to Dubnyk and punched him. The two were separated before a goalie fight incurred.

“I guess he’s frustrated,” Dubnyk told reporters after the game according to NBC Sports Bay Area. “But I don’t know why he’s skating around pretending to punch guys… I just told him to get off the ice, calm down. He’s 160 pounds. He’s out there swinging at guys… If you want to get into it with somebody, fine, but I don’t know why he was out there fake punching everybody.

“I understand guys get frustrated sometimes,” he added. “He’s a competitive, good goalie and he was obviously pissed off about something. That’s fine. We can look after ourselves.”

Evander Kane, a veteran of 21 career fights, was blunter about Binnington’s antics.

Binnington “seems to do a lot of talking. Too bad I wasn’t on the ice for that.”

Binnington was assessed only a two-minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct which Sharks coach Bob Boughner, a former NHL enforcer himself, termed as being “handled well” by referees.

Binnington didn’t return to the Blues bench in the second period but did in the third.

Well, after some urging from Craig Berube.

“He’s a fiery guy,” Berube said according to The Athletic. “That’s the way he is. He’s trying to rally the team. That’s what he’s trying to do.”

The Blues ended up winning the crazy game 7-6 after the Sharks surrendered four different leads.

The team credited Binnington.

“That was good for us,” former Capital Zach Sanford said. “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.”

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