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.
The Arizona Diamondbacks placed left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on the 10-day injured list due to a torn right ACL injured the previous night in a 7-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.
Gurriel was hurt in the sixth inning after he jumped awkwardly out of the way to avoid center fielder Blaze Alexander, who made a diving catch on a line drive by Rowdy Tellez for the third out of the inning.
Alexander was playing his first game in center field as a big leaguer.
Gurriel stayed on the ground for several minutes while medical staff attended to him. The 31-year-old eventually got up and walked to a cart before being driven off the field.
Additional tests confirmed the torn ACL.
Gurriel is batting .248 this season with 19 homers and 80 RBIs.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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Adam Rittenberg
While Dabo Swinney isn’t inflating LSU‘s grade for beating his team in Saturday’s season opener, Brian Kelly is ready to give the Clemson coach an incomplete for his evaluation.
Both coaches weighed in Tuesday on how LSU’s 17-10 win at Clemson should be viewed. After trailing 10-3 at halftime, LSU outscored Clemson 14-0 in the second half and finished with significant edges in both total yards (354-261) and first downs (25-13).
LSU rose six spots to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll Tuesday, while Clemson dropped four spots to No. 8.
“It was a helluva game, down to the last play,” Swinney said in his weekly news conference. “Right out of the gate. It’s like getting the final exam [on] Day 1 of class. They made a 65; we made a 58. Neither one of us were great.”
Kelly had not won a season opener at LSU before Saturday, and the victory was his first with the Tigers against an AP top-5 opponent.
“I thought we dominated them in the second half, so he’s really a really good grader for giving himself a 58, or he’s a really hard grader on us,” Kelly said in his news conference when told about Swinney’s comment.
“Or he didn’t see the second half, which, that might be the case. He might not have wanted to see the second half.”
Kelly added that LSU is moving on to this week’s game against Louisiana Tech.
“Clemson is a darn good football team,” Kelly said. “That’s a top-notch team, and they’re going to be a team in the hunt for [the] playoff picture. We hope we are, too. But it was only one game. So I don’t know if he’s a hard grader or an easy grader, but I like the way that we played in the second half.”
Clemson visits LSU to open the 2026 season.
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