Rivalry between Ryan Hartman, Jordan Binnington reaches new level
Jordan Binnington might be having nightmares of Ryan Hartman at this point of the budding rivalry between the St. Louis goalie and Minnesota forward.
If you'll recall, it was March 15 when Binnington sucker punched Hartman with his blocker, nearly leading to a rare goalie fight when Minnesota's Marc-Andre Fleury skated the length of the ice and wanted to throw fists with Binnington.
Those fireworks were set off by Hartman bumping into Binnington after he scored a goal. Perhaps already heated by allowing three goals in less than two minutes before Hartman's goal, Binnington was also seen taunting the Minnesota bench during that game.
Fast forward to Saturday night in St. Paul and Binnington got another helping of humble pie from Hartman and the Wild. In the first period with St. Louis on a power play, Hartman found himself with the puck and alone in the Blues zone when Binnington sped out of the crease in an attempt to stop Hartman, only to have the Wild forward dance around him for an easy goal.
Hartman celebrated by gesturing "no-no" with a wave of his right hand and index finger.
Hartman gets the last laugh! #MNWILD | #NHL pic.twitter.com/9GNyRmL5rP
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) April 9, 2023
Twenty seconds later Hartman stole a pass and found Sam Steel for Minnesota's second shorthanded goal, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead while down a skater.
WE LOVE SHORT(Y) KINGS#MNWILD | #NHL pic.twitter.com/ih87DZ2bn4
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) April 9, 2023
"It's not so much that, it's us trying to get ourselves ready for playoffs," Hartman told Bally Sports North's Kevin Gorg when asked if Binnington and the Blues get him fired up to play.
Most importantly, the Wild beat the Blues 5-3 to set up what could be an incredible final five days of the NHL regular season. Minnesota (100 points) is two points behind Dallas and Colorado for the top spot in the Central Division.
The final games in the race for the division title:
- Sunday: Colorado at Anaheim
- Monday: Dallas at Detroit, Minnesota at Chicago
- Tuesday: Minnesota vs. Winnipeg, Colorado vs. Edmonton
- Wednesday: Dallas at St. Louis
- Thursday: Colorado vs. Winnipeg, Minnesota at Nashville
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.