St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington let his emotions get the best of him, and his coach has had enough.

“It’s got to stop. It doesn’t help anything,” said Blues head coach Craig Berube. “Just play goal, stop the puck.”

Binnington’s latest outburst came in Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Late in the first, Binnington stuck out his glove, catching Pens winger Jason Zucker up high and sending him crashing into the boards.  Play was stopped for the apparent injury.

 

 

The on-ice officials huddled to discuss the hit, which went unobserved by low referee Jake Brenk, eventually handing out a double-minor for high-sticking.  Linesmen can only report double-minor, major, or match penalties.

The refs went to video review, which is permitted on a double-minor, ultimately wiping out the penalty when it was clear contact was from the glove and not a high-stick.  The officials do not have the ability to change the high-sticking double minor to a minor penalty for roughing or interference; they can only confirm the call or eliminate the penalty altogether.  With clearly no high stick, they had no choice but to clear the call from the board.

Binnington’s infraction would have been a minor for roughing or interference.

Early in the second period, Zucker exacted his revenge, scoring to put the Pens up 4-1.

Berube pulled his goaltender, who yapped at the Pittsburgh bench as he left the ice.

“Zucker and I were kind of laughing about the goal,” Rust said, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Then all a sudden you see him skate by, and I’m not really sure why or what exactly was said.”

St. Pierre hit the Blues netminder with a ten-minute misconduct penalty.

The Penguins went on to win the game 6-2.  Referees were Justin St. Pierre (#12) and Jake Brenk (#26), with linesmen Tommy Hughes (#65) and Brandon Gawryletz (#64).

 

Binnington’s had a rough week. He attempted to hit Carolina Hurricanes center Jordan Staal behind the net on a similar play.  The Blues goalie got the worst of the collision.  No penalty was called on the play.  St. Pierre was the referee for that game as well.

 

The St. Louis starting goaltender is 9-10 this season with a career-low .895 save percentage.