'I don't condone it,' Binnington says of swinging stick at Avalanche's Kadri

ST. LOUIS – Blues goalie Jordan Binnington swung his stick at Avalanche center Nazem Kadri during Thursday night’s game and received a 10-minute misconduct violation.

An Avalanche goal was waved off because the net was off with 29.2 seconds left in the second period. This caused Blues defenseman Jake Walman and Avalanche forward Logan O’Connor to get into a scrum in front of the St. Louis net. Binnington and other Blues players then got involved.

After the referees broke up the scrum, Binnington was skating away and swung his stick directly at Kadri. When Binnington got back to the net, Kadri skated up to him, but a referee ushered Kadri away. Binnington also shot the puck at Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper.

Binnington’s violation was served by Blues Robert Bortuzzo. Binnington is the first goalie since Rick Wamsley in 1987 to receive a 10-minute misconduct.

“Yeah, he gets fired up. He’s a fiery guy. He wasn’t happy about things,” Berube told reporters. “It is what it is, so … I’m not going to look into it too much,” Blues head coach Craig Berube said.

Kadri also received a 10-minute misconduct violation. He was confused as to why this was given to him.

“I have no idea. I don’t know why I got a 10-minute penalty there. I stayed out the scrum. We exchanged some words. I got a stick swung in my face. Then I end up with a 10-minute penalty. I’m not quite sure what it was for.” Kadri said.

Binnington was asked if he regretted the stick-swinging: “No. I don’t condone it. It doesn’t need to happen. I just think getting in the scrum is enough. I didn’t need to do the stuff after, but stuff happens and you learn and you keep moving forward.” #stlblues

— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) October 29, 2021

Binnington spoke to reporters Friday morning, and told them, “The scrum started and kind of carried on and there was a little stuff from the past going on there, but I might have taken it a little too far. I don’t want to condone the stick-swinging.”

The history Binnington was reffering to goes back to last season when Kadri was given an eight-game suspension for hitting Blues defenseman Justin Faulk in the head during Game 2 of the first-round playoff series between the Avalanche and the Blues. In the opening minute of Thursday’s game at Enterprise Center Faulk challenged Kadri to a fight.

Binnington said he does not want kids playing hockey to model their behavior after his.

“I definitely don’t want kids out there swinging their sticks. It’s an emotional situation, emotions were high, it was a competitive game,” Binnington said.

The Blues lost to the Avalanche 4-3 Thursday night.