St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington got a major vote of confidence from Team Canada management on Wednesday. Binnington was among the 25 names chosen to represent the red maple leaf at the Milano-Cortina games.
The honor, justified by Team Canada and Blues GM Doug Armstrong, rested on Binnington’s body of work. Of course, Armstrong is not wrong. Binnington has a track record of being one of the best big-game goalies in the league.
Last season, he proved it by being lights-out at the 4 Nations Face-Off. So, Binnington, wearing a badge of honor, proceeded to get a celebratory six-pack courtesy of Team Canada teammate Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche.
No, it’s not the sort of six-pack college guys chug in mere minutes. This was a six-pack of goals. The Avalanche peppered Binnington and the Blues from start to finish. When everything was said and done, Binnington surrendered six goals and 42 shots.
The game was never close. In fact, it was akin to a boxer getting pummeled on the ropes. Any sane trainer would have thrown in the towel after the first four goals hit the back of the net in under five minutes.
But alas, there is no mercy rule in the NHL. Teams must play the full 60 minutes. It was evident that the Avalanche took their foot off the gas. Otherwise, who knows how much higher the score would have been? And even with backing off, Valeri Nichushkin ended the night with a hat trick.
It was that sort of night for the Blues.
Blues did little to support Binnington
During the press conference following Team Canada’s roster reveal, Doug Armstrong admitted that Binnington’s numbers this season were more the result of the poor team in front of him than anything else.
Well, Armstrong is not wrong. That was plainly evident on Wednesday night. The Avalanche put their game in drive and floored it. They scored four goals even before the Blues got a shot on net. That’s also considering the Avalanche had a disallowed tally on goaltender interference.
It’s also worth pointing out that the score would have been much worse if it hadn’t been for Binnington. The Blues’ netminder made several big stops, keeping the game reasonably close. Had Binnington just given up, it could have been a record-setting night for the Avalanche.
Ultimately, the Avalanche deserve credit for their sportsmanship. They didn’t purposely try to run up the score. Even so, the Blues did little to support Binnington.
That was evident after Dalibor Dvorsky scored a bit of a fluky goal. The Avs turned up the heat a little bit and added two more to set the record straight.
The good news for Canadian fans is that, at the Olympics, Binnington will have MacKinnon and Cale Makar on his side.