Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly wasn’t buying the line of thinking that starting goalie Jordan Binnington didn’t play Monday in San Jose because of what happened when the team was in town nine days earlier.
One will recall Binnington was frustrated after being pulled from the game in the second period and confronted three Sharks players on his way to the exit. The Blues rallied for a 7-6 victory Feb. 27 behind backup goalie Ville Husso.
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Now bookending their six-game trip with another game in San Jose, it was Husso back in net.
“Gosh, I don’t know if that was the reason for it,” O’Reilly said. “I think ‘Huss’ has been playing great, and it’s been a lot of hockey for ‘Binner,’ and it will be going forward. I thought Huss found a way, played great last time and got us a win, and I think it was just kind of feeding off that.”
Blues credit Jordan Binnington’s animated exit for slump-busting victory: ‘That fire is what’s going to drive us.’ #stlblues https://t.co/3UmP94Y8m7
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) February 28, 2021
In explaining his decision to go with Husso on Monday, Blues coach Craig Berube said, “I just think we’ve got to use him. He needs to play. We played Binnington a lot early on this year, and it’s a pretty good stretch here where Binnington can get rested up.”
So nothing to do with the recent events?
“No,” Berube insisted. “Nothing.”
Indeed, Binnington has played a lot this season, making 19 of the Blues’ 26 starts, including six in a row (Feb. 15-27). And his results are much better with rest: Six of those starts were with one day’s rest and his save percentage in those games is .899; eight are on two days’ rest (.897); three are on three days’ rest (.933) and one is on four days’ rest (.963).
Still, it’s hard to believe the Blues would go with Husso over Binnington for one simple reason: Earlier in the day, Berube told reporters that his message to the team going into the trip finale was to put away any thoughts about heading home after the game.
“We’ve got to be focused,” Berube said before it was confirmed that Husso was starting. “Points are crucial. We all know that (with) how tight the league is in our division. We’ve got to finish it off.
“We talked to our guys this morning about being prepared. Every shift counts tonight. Just put it all on the line. There’s nothing to save it for. They’ve got to leave it out on the ice tonight. We’ve got to have a solid effort from every person in the lineup tonight.”
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Every single person … except the starting goaltender?
Husso has been good lately and was fine Monday, but Binnington is electric with his glove, and you had to wonder for a moment if Binnington would have made the snag on Evander Kane’s overtime winner for a 4-3 Sharks victory. That would’ve been unfair to Husso, who could have earned the win if the Blues’ Brayden Schenn had buried a wide-open chance in regulation, or if O’Reilly had put a shot on net in OT, a sequence that ended with Kane scoring at the other end.
But in light of a situation that dragged out for several days, with Binnington eventually admitting that none of the San Jose players provoked him — “I wanted them to say something, but not really” — you had to believe the Blues were protecting him Monday.
There were obviously some lingering ill feelings on the Sharks’ side, which we’ll get to in a minute, and there’s no guarantee that they wouldn’t have taken it out on Binnington. The Blues could ill-afford to let that happen.
So Berube went with Husso, who including the relief win in San Jose that night, was 4-0 in his past four decisions.
“He’s been doing great,” O’Reilly said. “You just see the more and more he plays, the more confidence he’s getting. We’re confident in him. He’s finding ways to make huge saves at huge times for us. It’s nice to see. It can always be tough at times being a new goalie and getting your legs, but you can see he’s got them now and he’s doing a great job.”
Husso, who has struggled making the first couple of saves in games, made a massive one just 16 seconds into this contest on Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson.
Then 2:35 into the opening period, San Jose’s Kurtis Gabriel went seeking revenge for Binnington accosting Radim Simek, Karlsson and Devan Dubnyk last week.
This was all in the making before the puck dropped, with Gabriel having words with the Blues’ Kyle Clifford during pregame warmups.
Wonder if these guys might fight tonight. 🤔
TV: FSMW | Stream: FSGO – https://t.co/towF2YDr1B#stlblues pic.twitter.com/cJqoi1Dce9— FOX Sports Midwest (@FSMidwest) March 9, 2021
“There was definitely some lingering effects, obviously,” Schenn said. “Gabriel comes in and right from warmup, he was letting guys know that he wasn’t happy with what happened last time.
“That’s why we have Cliffy — not why we have Cliffy on the team, but if something needs to be done and handled the right way — Cliffy is the guy that can take care of it. He’s an ultimate teammate, he’s a warrior for us. Heck of a scrap, and you know it’s not easy fighting guys like that, and he seems to be doing it his whole career, and we definitely enjoy having Cliffy on our side.”
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Gabriel, 27, who three nights earlier fought Vegas’ Ryan Reaves, took on Clifford in the veteran’s 700th career NHL game.
“This was him having to fight me because of their goalie’s antics last game,” Gabriel tweeted after the game. “Nobody will disrespect this team when I am around and not have to pay up for it.”
The Blues understood.
“I’ve got to hand it to the guy,” Schenn said. “(Gabriel) does some things out there, but he competes hard. He keeps himself engaged and he’s doing what it takes for his team. He wasn’t happy with what happened last game, and he stepped up and so did Cliffy. That was a spirited scrap, no fans in the stands, and just two big boys going toe-to-toe and it was a great scrap.”
Kyle Clifford vs Kurtis Gabriel from the St Louis Blues at San Jose Sharks game on Mar 8, 2021 https://t.co/GWYsws4pGv
— hockeyfights (@hockeyfights) March 9, 2021
If there was a consolation for the Blues, it was that San Jose had gotten out its anger, and Binnington was on the bench, so there was really nothing to do the rest of the game except play hockey.
The Blues’ Niko Mikkola scored his first goal in the NHL for a 1-0 lead, and after the Sharks’ Marc-Edouard Vlasic tied it in the second period, Schenn scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period for a 2-1 lead.
The goal that gave the Blues a power-play tally in five straight games was Schenn’s team-leading 12th of the season, including one in each of the team’s six games against San Jose this season.
The Blues were 10-0 this season when leading after two periods, and Husso came up with some big saves on Dylan Gambrell and Matt Nieto in the third to try and keep that record intact, but then captain Logan Couture tied the score, 2-2.
Schenn had a chance to score the go-ahead goal late in regulation, on an incredible feed from teammate Torey Krug, but missed a wide-open net.
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“We were looking at each other,” he said. “I just kind of put my stick down on the ice and knew I had an empty net. Obviously would have liked to have that one back.”
In overtime, O’Reilly had a chance as well, but turned the puck over.
“(San Jose goalie Dubnyk) challenged me pretty hard, he came out quite a bit, and I thought maybe I can get around him,” O’Reilly said. “But my hands didn’t do what I wanted them to … frustrating because then it’s in the back of the net. Got to at least put something at the net. Tough one to lose.”
On the ensuing trip down the ice, Kane scored to give the Blues their second consecutive loss in OT.
Quick shot and right in the net. @evanderkane_9 wins it for the @SanJoseSharks in OT.
NHL x @trulyseltzer pic.twitter.com/TktibXslnO
— NHL (@NHL) March 9, 2021
The Blues went 4-0-2 on the trip and are 10-2-2 on the road this season.
“It’s a great trip, it really is,” Berube said. “We got points in every game, which is outstanding. I would have liked to have closed these last two games out (but) we didn’t do it. We’ve just got to dig down a little bit more and find a way to close these games out.”
Now the club will get three days off before hosting Vegas on Friday, and players are looking forward to the break.
“It’s not easy coming out here, two-hour time change,” Schenn said. “We had a 4-hour, 45-minute flight the day before the game in San Jose to start this whole road trip and tonight we’re getting in at 4 or 5 in the morning. We kind of knew that heading into this year, we were part of that division, and travel was going to be tough. For us, rest is important right now and we need three days off before we have a tough weekend with Vegas.”
With the opponent being Vegas and not San Jose on Friday, and the Blues getting plenty of rest, the goalie will presumably be Binnington.
(Photo: Stan Szeto / USA Today)
