The first goalie fight of the season nearly went down in the nation’s capital.
Late in the third period of a blowout game, St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington got into it a bit with Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. After the two were separated, Binnington skated to his bench for a breather. But on his way there, he looked down the ice at his Senators counterpart Linus Ullmark and appeared to raise his hands as a challenge.
Ullmark floated out to the circles in the Senators defensive zones but the two keepers didn’t get closer than that.
“It’s just all an act,” Ullmark said after the game, an 8-1 Senators win. “I’m pretty sure that Brady can take care of himself.”
Binnington has a history of rough stuff in his career and has two fights on his card from his AHL days, according to HockeyFights.com. Ullmark has never fought in a game but the former Vezina winner said if a situation ever came about where a teammate needed someone to stand up for them, he wouldn’t hesitate to do it.
“I’d rather not do anything,” Ullmark said. “If the time comes and I have to go and stick up for my teammates I’ll do it but like I said, there wasn’t any need for that today.”
Binnington did not speak to the media after the game.