The Calgary Flames offence is far from what he’ll face against the best the U.S., Sweden and Finland have to offer, but Jordan Binnington’s clutch performance bodes well for Team Canada in February.
Freshly named to the country’s 4 Nations Face-off team, Binnington is the most experienced and accomplished Canadian netminder heading to Montreal and Boston in February for the international competition orchestrated by the NHL and NHLPA.
A day after the official roster unveiling, Binnington was the biggest reason the St. Louis Blues were able to steal a win from the Flames at the Saddledome. He made 36 saves to earn a 4-3 overtime victory.
The winning goal was scored by another member of Team Canada, Blues defenceman Colton Parayko — who ostensibly beat out Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar for one of the final spots on the Canadian blueline.
It wasn’t without controversy.
Making a third-straight start in the Flames net for the first time this season, Dan Vladar was inches from helping his team to a sixth-straight home-ice victory. Unfortunately, Parayko was able to push the puck and Vladar’s left pad into the net to limit the Flames to a single point.
Related: Vladar Gets Third Straight Start In Flames Goal
The play was reviewed at length before the NHL’s Situation Room ruled it a good goal. Vladar went to the refs to express his dissatisfaction. After the game, though, he suggested it was something he had to live with.
“I respect the goal, and it is what it is,” Vladar said. “I thought I just had to make one more save than Binnington to win, and I didn’t.”
Flames head coach Ryan Huska was more frustrated by the call and a lack of explanation as to why it was a good goal.
“The way I see it, Danny made a save and probably would have kept it out,” Huska told reporters post-game.
If not for a two-minute lapse in the first period, things might have been different. The Blues got two goals in a two-minute span in the middle of the opening period, with both Zack Bolduc and Robert Thomas scoring to put the Flames in a hole.
The Calgary Flames carried most of the play from there, and outshot the Blues 15-4 in the third period but after youngsters Jakob Pelletier and Matt Coronato tied things up in the second, and then Weegar equalled things again after Pavel Buchnevich gave the Blues the lead, the Flames couldn’t muster that ever-elusive fourth goal.
It’s now been 24 games since they’ve managed to score more than three in regulation or overtime.
