The St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington was injured and left Game 3 against the Colorado Avalanche Saturday night. The team has yet to make an official announcement on his availability.
Jordan Binnington is dinged up after Nazem Kadri and Calle Rosen skated into him chasing a rebound. He's coming out of the game.
Ville Husso is in for his series debut.
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) May 22, 2022
Jordan Binnington Injured
After making an initial save on Artturi Lehkonen, Binnington left a juicy rebound to his left right in front of him. Nazem Kadri came crashing in for the loose puck, and Calle Rosen worked to beat him to the puck. As a result, both Rosen and Kadri barreled into Binnington at basically full speed. Binnington recovered, spent time with the team’s trainer, and appeared to try testing himself out. As he slid from left to right, he crumpled in pain. Immediately, Ville Husso geared up on the bench and replaced him as Binnington headed down to the locker room.
No penalties were called on the play.
Goalie Change Forced on St. Louis Blues in Game Three
In the regular season, Binnington went 18-14-4 with a .901 save percentage and 3.13 goals against average. Husso took over as the bonafide starter, exhibiting better numbers, a better record, and better overall play. However, during the first round against the Minnesota Wild, Binnington regained the net. So far in the postseason, Binnington has a .948 save percentage and 1.75 goals against average with a 4-1 record.
Over his five-year NHL career, Binnington only played thus far for the Blues. He won the Stanley Cup in his rookie season and took over as their starting netminder ever since. This year marked the first season since 2018-19 where another goalie truly challenged his starting job. In 162 career games, Binnington owns a 90-46-20 record to pair with his .911 save percentage. He was originally drafted by the Blues in the third round, 88th overall in the 2011 NHL draft.
What This Means for the Future
In fairness, Husso served the team as their number one goalie in the regular season. However, his 1-2 start against the Wild in round one resulted in Binnington receiving the opportunity to start game four. The team hadn’t looked back since, as Binnington posted career-best playoff numbers in the limited sample size. After going 1-1 to start the series against Colorado, a huge amount of St. Louis’ success could be attributed to Binnington. He carried them to overtime in Game 1, despite his squad being heavily outplayed. Colorado outshot the Blues 54-25 but only won 3-2 in overtime.
In Game 2, Binnington saw far less action but still came up huge multiple times. He led his team to a 4-1 victory, gaining home-ice advantage for the Blues entering game three. When Binnington left the game, his team led 1-0. Husso entered cold and will have to perform at his best to handle the high-flying Avs. This injury could have massive ramifications on the remainder of this series, to say the least.
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