The NHL suspended St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington two games Thursday for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct against Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman during a game the night before.

Binnington skated near an unsuspecting Hartman and swung his blocker in his face after the Wild forward scored a power-play goal in the second period of Wednesday’s game. Binnington admittedly was surprised he received a match penalty and ejected for his actions in the Blues’ 8-5 loss.

“A little bit. I don’t think I caught him too clean with my (blocker) going after him,” Binnington said. “Like I said, he’s pretty good at diving. That’s his game and that’s totally fine.

“If they don’t want to stay in there and compete until that end, that’s fine, but that’s it, that’s the ref’s decision and that’s fine.”

Hartman didn’t take too kindly to Binnington’s actions.

“I mean, those blockers aren’t soft,” Hartman said. “We don’t have much protection on our face. I’d say so (it was a cheap shot). It’s nothing new from him. He’s been doing stuff like this for a while.”

Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury skated the length of the ice to take up for his teammate and challenge Binnington, but the two goaltenders were kept apart by the officials.

Binnington, 29, yielded five goals on 24 shots before being replaced by Thomas Greiss, who made eight saves in relief.

A Stanley Cup winner in 2018-19, Binnington has a 22-24-5 record this season with a 3.39 goals-against average and an .892 save percentage.

–Field Level Media