What the Minnesota Wild had to say about Jordan Binnington: 'That’s nothing new from him'

Fleury knew about Binnington’s reputation for getting involved after the whistle with opponents, with episodes in Pittsburgh and Colorado this season, plus one in San Jose where he feigned punches to multiple Sharks.

During the first period of Minnesota’s 8-5 win over the Blues on Wednesday, Wild forward Matt Boldy informed Fleury that Binnington hit Joel Eriksson Ek in the nether regions during a first-period scrum at the Blues net. So when Binnington whacked Ryan Hartman in the face with his blocker after a second-period goal, Fleury decided he wanted to fight Binnington.

“One of the guys said that he hit them in the nuts, in the nutsack,” Fleury said. “Can I say that, nutsack? That’s proper, right? When I saw him throw another one at our guy, that was the time.”

Fluery skated down the ice, removed his glove and blocker, and discarded his helmet. But Fluery and Binnington never fought, as the linesmen kept them separated.

“It would’ve been fun,” Fleury said. “Tried to help my teammate and try to throw a couple punches. The crowd was up on their feet, so that’s pretty cool, too. Never had a fight in my career, so it would have been pretty cool, but happy we got the win. That was the main reason we’re here for. It was not pretty, but it worked out pretty good.”

The episode was part of an explosive second period that saw Binnington receive a match penalty for hitting Hartman with his blocker, Hartman received an unsportsmanlike conduct minor for bumping Binnington after scoring, Fleury a minor penalty for leaving the crease, and Brayden Schenn a 10-minute misconduct for going after Hartman a few shifts later.

It all appeared to start after Mason Shaw scored to put the Wild up 4-3. It was the third Minnesota goal in 1:58, and Binnington responded by chirping the Wild bench. Binnington was also upset with the Wild when Oskar Sundkvist shot a puck into the empty net after touching up a delayed penalty.

But things set off when Hartman’s power play goal put the Wild up 5-4 at 12:25 of the second period. After Hartman scored, he skated across the slot to celebrate with Mats Zuccarello, and made contact with Binnington’s outstretched left leg. Binnington immediately went after Hartman and hit him with his blocker (goalie stick in hand).

“That’s nothing new from him,” Hartman said. “He’s been doing stuff like this for a while. I’m skating over to Zucc and realizing he’s just sliding out from trying to make the save, bumped him. But he was talking to our bench leading five minutes into that. You just knew he was going to do something at some point. Obviously, when they have a guy like that, it’s nice to get on him so he’ll do something like that.”

Fleury: “I can’t say I’m surprised. I think we’ve seen Jordan do a few things in his career, faking the stick, faking the punch. That’s why I went, you know? Because my guy jumped in the pile, right?”

After a linesman had pushed Binnington all the way to center ice and away from Fleury, he proceeded to pump his arms, imploring the Enterprise Center crowd for some noise.

“I don’t exactly know what he was doing,” Wild forward Ryan Reaves said. “He just got buried on, took a five-minute penalty and is trying to fire up the crowd. It’s just a weird time to fire up the crowd. But appreciate the power play, I guess.”

Asked what Binnington said to the Wild bench after Shaw’s goal, Reaves said: “I don’t know. He had marbles in his mouth, I couldn’t understand him.”

Next, it was Alex Goligoski’s turn to get in on the action.

With the game at 4-on-4 due to the Fleury, Hartman and Binnington penalties, Goligoski got behind the Blues defense and broke in on replacement goalie Thomas Greiss all alone before slipping a backhand between Greiss’ legs.

During his celebration, Goligoski pumped his arms in the air, just as Binnington did minutes earlier.

“Yeah, just kind of set up on a platter for me,” Goligoski said. “Kind of fun. It’s fun having that little competition. We see these guys a lot, and they can be emotional games.”

When Goligoski was asked what he made of Binnington pumping the crowd up, he said “he’s just trying to get his crowd going a little bit. The game wasn’t going great for him, so I don’t know. I don’t really think anything of it.” Goligoski’s goal made it 6-4, Wild.

Sixty-two seconds after Goligoski’s goal, Schenn decided business wasn’t finished with Hartman. Hartman entered the Blues zone offside and finished the play against the glass by the hashmarks. Schenn came up to Hartman, shoved him into the boards before Hartman made a quick getaway.

Schenn received a 10-minute misconduct and snapped his stick on the open door at the Blues’ bench before heading to the dressing room.

“We’ve fought plenty of times and there wasn’t really much there for me to fight about,” Hartman said. “Do I think he should have got 10 minutes? Maybe not. Do I think maybe the refs were just trying to take control a little bit? Maybe. Obviously, there’s really not much there, but I can understand both sides.”

The rest of the game was completed civilly, as a pair of Wild penalties (one for high-sticking and one for hooking) were the only other calls the rest of the game. When Schenn returned in the third period, he didn’t go after Hartman. There was no more conflict with Fleury.

In the end, the biggest event of Wednesday night’s game might have been the one that didn’t happen: the Fleury-Binnington fight.

“(Fluery) said he wanted it,” Reaves said. “These two have been going back and forth, I was giving him a couple tips before the game. I wish the refs would have let them go, that would have been nice to see. Good to keep Fluery’s hands in order.”

Fleury: “Yeah, I crossed the ice and take off my helmet, so I think I wanted it. The refs were very quick and they didn’t let me go.”

To some, though, Wednesday night was just a throwback to the old days.

“I don’t think any of it,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “It’s old school hockey. Looked familiar to me.”