from Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic,.

“Well (Hartman) went right in the crease and hit Binnington, so Binner reacted, which I don’t have a problem with,” Berube said. “Now, I’m not going to condone hitting like he did. That’s going to be a match every time. But he’s reacting on what Hartman did. At that moment, what Hartman did, it’s tough sometimes. I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘Well he should just take it.'”

Binnington would eventually get a five-minute match penalty, which meant he was ejected from the game. But he got his money’s worth, as did the crowd.

Binnington got back to his feet, and with Brisebois still tugging at him, he clearly wanted a fight with Fleury, who had come down the ice wanting a piece, too.

“I’m not surprised (Fleury came down),” Binnington said. “I kind of think it was our moment, but I got nothing but respect for Fleury, too. He’s a legendary goalie. Coming down there shows a lot about him.”

Was Binnington disappointed the officials didn’t let them go?

“Like I said, it kind of felt like it was the moment, but I’m sure they’re told not to let the goalies go,” he said. “That’s the game. That’s hockey.”

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from Joe Smith of The Athletic,

Fleury heard Binnington hit one of his teammates in the crotch with his stick in the first period, so when Binnington hit Hartman in the face with the pointy end of the blocker, the veteran goaltender had enough.

“I felt that was my guy,” Fleury said. “I had to take care of him.”

Fleury tossed off his helmet, he rolled up his sleeves. The crowd was jacked....

“It kind of felt like it was our moment,” Binnington said.

“Old school hockey,” Wild coach Dean Evason said.

“It would have been good for the league,” Brayden Schenn said. “People talk about that stuff.”

Fleury has talked about getting in a fight as one of the last things on the bucket list of a Hall of Fame career. But veteran refs Kelly Sutherland and Gord Dwyer held both goalies back. Told them it wasn’t going to happen.

“It would have been fun,” Fleury said. “The crowd was up on their feet. I never had a fight in my career, so it would have been pretty cool. Too bad.”

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Interesting night for former Wings players. Vrana had two goals for the Blues. Sunny had a goal for the Wild. And Greiss was the losing goalie after he took over for Binnington.

I'd really, really like to know what it was that Vrana did to piss off Stevie Y to the point that he basically gave him away and retained half of his salary. He definitely wanted him out of town for some reason.

The league is becoming a joke. Take away fighting and the stick fouls and dirty hits will increase. I fall asleep during games more now than ever before.

I think I am on the edge of not watching any more. I noticed that the broadcasters say “fun to watch” during the games like it’s scripted and required for them to say trying to convince me. Might as well put on costumes and figure skates at this point. 

Rant over. 

4 goals in 5 games for V..

suggested previously that if he had to go, that newsy/SY pair V/Z up again to showcase towards seasons end, then make the trade = greater ROE.

o/t: trying to understand how wings were beat down in Ottawa, yet took the B's to the wall.

Awesome that Fleury jumped in, even trying to pull the linesman off.  Too bad they didn't just let them go.  

Binnington has rubbed the wrong way since he joined the league.