Blues goalie plays up to his hype
You wouldn’t know if you turned off the television during the second period of Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Blues and checked back later to see that the Penguins lost, 5-1, but there’s a decent chance the home team would have made it interesting if not for Jordan Binnington.
Who the heck is Jordan Binnington? That’s a question a lot of folks in North America have been asking the last couple of months as the rookie goalie has helped the Blues turn around their season.
The 25-year-old, who has spent the last few seasons playing in the minors, got called up by St. Louis in early December. He led the NHL with a 1.77 goalsagainst average and ranked second with a .931 save percentage after stopping 40 of 41 shots against the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.
One of those saves came against Sidney Crosby, who broke in all alone on him during the second period. Crosby took aim at the upper right corner of the net but Binnington got his glove on the shot.
“I just tried to let a quick shot go,” Crosby said. “If I get it up a little bit more, I probably have it. But I thought I got it away pretty quick and might have surprised him, but he was in good position.”
Phil Kessel got another breakaway in the third period, but Binnington denied him, too. Kessel, who likes to snap off a shot when cruising in down the right wing, instead deked this time. The righty pulled the puck to his backhand and tried to flip the puck over Binnington’s pad but pulled his shot wide.