ST. LOUIS — It was a night to forget for Jordan Binnington and the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night, but it didn’t start that way for the goalie.
In the early stages of the second period in a 1-1 game against the Washington Capitals that turned into an 8-1 Washington win, a puck was played into the right left corner of the Blues’ zone, Binnington goes to play it and it takes a wicked carom off the goalie and into the middle with acres of ice and a vulnerable goalie now out of position.
Washington’s Taylor Raddysh and St. Louis defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph were sprung into action frantically trying to win a race to that loose puck.
If Joseph gets there first or finds a way to disrupt the play, no harm, no foul. If Raddysh gets there first, easy goal and a 2-1 lead for the Capitals, right?
Binnington would like a vote:
Somehow, some way, Binnington would dive into the play, get the blade of his stick up and deflect the puck over the wide open cage to avoid — at the moment — disaster.
It didn’t seam to faze the Capitals, who would go on to score seven unanswered goals and win the game comfortably, but it doesn’t diminish the effort by the Blues’ goalie.
