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Jordan Binnington ejected on ‘Wrestling Night’ for punching Ryan Hartman, trying to fight Marc-Andre Fleury

By Chris Cerullo

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March 16, 2023 1:06 am

St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington has a vast history of making scenes both on and off the ice in professional hockey. He added another to his extensive catalog on Wednesday night when the Minnesota Wild came to town for some Central Division action.

Binnington had been frustrated with the Wild for some time during the game and that frustration all came to a head when the Wild’s Ryan Hartman scored past him with 7:35 remaining in the second period.

Something within the hotheaded netminder finally snapped.

Hartman finished off a great feed from Mats Zuccarello with the Wild up a man to give Minnesota a 5-4 lead after being previously down 4-3. In the following celebration, Hartman slightly nudged Binnington trying to meet up with his teammates for a goal hug.

It’s incredibly clear that Binnington took exception to that “hostility” and responded with a leaping blocker punch to Hartman’s face. Binnington was eventually separated from the ensuing player pile by a linesman and that’s where opposing goalie Marc-Andre Fleury comes into play.

Fleury approached the ravaging Binnington, dropped his glove and blocker, and squared up to fight. Much to the dismay of the fans in attendance and probably the whole world, the officials did not allow the two to get close to one another. Instead, all we got was Binnington trying to pump up the crowd before his inevitable early departure.

At the end of the fracas, Binnington was served a five-minute, match penalty (ejection) for his flying punch and two additional penalty minutes for leaving his crease. Fleury was also given two minutes for leaving his crease and Hartman received two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Wild’s Alex Goligoski would score on backup netminder Thomas Greiss not long after Binnington was dismissed to his room. Goligoski made sure to mock the incensed goaltender by pretending to pump up the away fans in his celebration.

It’s no shock that all of this professional wrestling-style entertainment happened on the ice as it was literally Wrestling Night inside Enterprise Center.

None other than Ric “the Nature Boy” Flair was in attendance and announced the Blues’ starting lineup in their locker room before the game.

The Blues were also giving out Flair bobbleheads to select fans who purchased a special themed ticket.

When asked by The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford if he would have liked to have seen the officials get out of the way and let Binnington and Fleury right, Flair responded just as expected.

“Hell yeah, I was wishing that,” the 16-time world champion responded. “I would’ve loved that.”

Binnington’s night ended with him giving up five goals on 24 shots against for a .792 save percentage. Greiss replaced him in net and gave up another three goals as the Blues would go on to lose the wild game, 8-5.

Screenshot via NHL on TNT

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