Jordan Binnington’s first full American Hockey League season has started as well as he or the Wolves could want. Entering Friday’s game in Milwaukee, Binnington is 5-2-1 with a 1.88 goals-against average and .924 save percentage. Before his Tuesday loss to Adirondack, Binnington had won five straight decisions.
Not bad for a guy who had to be talked into starting for the Wolves last season.
“I think, and this is just my impression, that I think Jordan had to convince himself that he belonged here,” Wolves coach John Anderson said. “He had to be convinced last year into playing that one game he played.”
That one game was a 4-3 shootout win over the Rockford IceHogs on Jan. 5. At that point, Binnington was a 20-year-old playing his first full ECHL season who was given a game while Jake Allen was briefly away with the St. Louis Blues.
Allen is now gone for good and Binnington along with Matt Climie will have to carry the load in the net for the Wolves, who return home Saturday night after a nine-game trip to host Iowa. They host Rockford on Sunday.
Now Binnington’s doubts – if there were any – should be gone and he’s showing why he’s the Blues’ top goaltending prospect now that Allen’s in the NHL.
“Once he got going, he’s been awesome. Just even in practice he’s gotten better. Very happy with him,” Anderson said. “Our goaltending has not been a problem for us and it is what it is.”
