Blues’ Binnington to sit two games for scuffle
St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington was suspended for two games by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Thursday for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night.
Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, and based on his average annual salary, Binnington will forfeit $64,864.86. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
At 12:25 of the second period in the Blues’ 8-5 loss, Minnesota forward Ryan Hartman scored the go-ahead goal to break a 4-4 tie. While skating over to celebrate with teammates, Hartman made contact with Binnington’s leg pad outside of the St. Louis crease. Binnington spun around and skated to the Wild players, throwing a punch with his blocker glove while holding his goalie stick.
Moments after that incident, NHL linesmen had to keep Binnington and Minnesota goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury from having a fight.
Binnington received a minor penalty for leaving his crease and a match penalty.
The NHL said the retaliatory nature of the play was a catalyst for the suspension.
“What causes this play to rise to the level of a suspension is the act of a goaltender using his blocker in this manner, the retaliatory nature of the blow, the location and force with which it lands and the game circumstances under which it occurred,” said the Department of Player Safety in its explanation. “Recklessly entering an opponent’s goal celebration long after the play has ended for the purposes of seeking retribution will not be tolerated.”
This is the first time Binnington has either been suspended or fined by the NHL in his 214-game NHL career.
The Blues goalie, who led them to the 2019 Stanley Cup championship as a rookie, has earned a reputation for being an emotional player who frequently engages with opponents. He’s known to jaw with opposing benches during games, as he did with the Wild on Tuesday night, and get physical with opposing players. Last December, when Binnington had an incident against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Blues coach Craig Berube said, “It’s got to stop. It doesn’t help anything. … Just play goal, stop the puck.”
On Tuesday night, Berube was more supportive of Binnington within the context of the play.
“He went right in the crease and hit Binner and Binner reacted, which I don’t have a problem with. The guy went right in there,” Berube said. “I’m not going to condone hitting like he did. That’s going to be a match [penalty] every time. But he’s reacting on what Hartman did.”
Binnington will miss games at the Washington Capitals on Friday and at home against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.
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Jake Trotter
A UAB football player stabbed two of his teammates Saturday morning at the football facility ahead of the Blazers’ home game against USF, a university spokesperson told ESPN.
The suspect has been arrested, and both injured players are in stable condition after being taken to UAB hospital. The school has not released the names of any of the players involved.
UAB’s game against USF began as scheduled at 3 p.m. ET.
A UAB official said an investigation is ongoing.
“UAB’s top priority remains the safety and well-being of all of our students,” the school said in a statement.
Ohio State wide receivers Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith are not expected to play against Rutgers on Saturday due to lower-body injuries, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Tate will miss his third straight game. Smith played in last week’s win over UCLA but missed the second half after being seen limping before halftime. Both are considered day-to-day, sources said, ahead of a potential return next week against rival Michigan.
On Tuesday, coach Ryan Day would not rule out either wide receiver but also did not want to go into specifics on their availability.
“Our policy is we don’t discuss specifics on injuries, and once you start going down a little bit here, a little bit there, you can create a problem,” Day said. “So for a number of reasons, we don’t discuss those things.”
Smith leads the Big Ten and ranks third in the nation with 10 touchdown catches while ranking third in the conference in receiving yards per game (90.2) and second in catches per game (6.9). Tate is fifth in the Big Ten with 88.9 receiving yards per game.
Brandon Inniss started in place of Tate against UCLA and led No. 1 Ohio State with six catches for 30 yards during a 48-10 win.
The 5-5 Scarlet Knights are looking to beat Ohio State for the first time in their 11th try since joining the Big Ten in 2014.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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