The Colorado Avalanche will get a familiar face in net Saturday night at Ball Arena, and that makes this one feel a little more personal than a typical Game 2.
After opening the season with an 8-4 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, Colorado now turns to the St. Louis Blues, with longtime Blues goalie Jordan Binnington expected to start. That name still carries weight around this matchup, because the Avalanche and Binnington have been tangled up in some nasty moments over the years.
The flashpoint goes back to Game 3 of the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. By then, the rivalry was already heated after the previous season, when Nazem Kadri was suspended eight games for his hit on Justin Faulk in Game 2 of the first-round series.
Colorado went on to sweep St. Louis that year before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in six games.
Then came the collision that helped define the series. In Game 3, Binnington was hurt on a lower-body injury after Kadri and then-Blues defenseman Calle Rosen went after a loose puck and Kadri crashed into the goalie, knocking him out for the rest of the postseason.
Binnington was not pleased. In a postgame interview with TNT, he threw a water bottle at Kadri, adding another ugly chapter to the series.
The hockey side of that story also took a sharp turn. Kadri later scored a hat trick in Game 4 as Colorado beat St. Louis 6-3 to take a 3-1 series lead.
A lot has changed since then, but not everything. Kadri is back in an Avalanche uniform after several seasons with the Calgary Flames, and Binnington remains the Blues’ man in goal for this one.
What has changed is Binnington’s level of play. He is not the same goaltender who helped St.
Louis win the Stanley Cup in 2019. Last season, he finished with a career-low .873 save percentage, and at one point that number fell to around .864.
Colorado already got a heavy dose of him on New Year’s Eve last season, when Binnington faced 43 shots and gave up six goals. Three of those came from Valeri Nichushkin, who now plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
That said, Binnington has still shown he can rise to the moment, especially with Team Canada at the Olympics and Four Nations. On the NHL side, though, it has been a rough stretch.
Saturday’s puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
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