Avalanche Set To Face Familiar Foe In Fiery Ball Arena Showdown

DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche won on opening night Wednesday, beating the Los Angeles Kings 8-4 in a game that featured just about everything — a high-octane offense, solid goaltending and even a fight.

Game 2 could be quite the fight as well when the Avalanche take on the St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena.

The Hockey News has learned that longtime Blues netminder Jordan Binnington will handle crease duties, and if you know a thing or two about Binnington, you know he and the Avalanche have quite the history.

Let's go back to Game 3 of the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

At that point, the rivalry between these two teams couldn't have been much hotter. The year before, Nazem Kadri was suspended eight games after his hit on Justin Faulk in Game 2 of their first-round series. The Avalanche went on to sweep the Blues and would eventually lose to the Vegas Golden Knights in six games.

But 2022 brought a whole new level to things.

In Game 3, Binnington suffered a lower-body injury after Kadri and then-Blues defenseman Calle Rosen collided while going after a loose puck. Kadri crashed directly into Binnington, knocking the goaltender out for the rest of the postseason.

Binnington wasn't exactly thrilled about it.

During a postgame interview with TNT, he threw a water bottle at Kadri, adding another memorable moment to an already heated series.

The aftermath, however, went well beyond hockey.

Kadri, who is Muslim and of Lebanese descent, became the target of racist comments and threats following the collision. Police were brought in to investigate some of those threats, but Kadri had his own response — and it came on the ice.

He scored a hat trick in Game 4, leading Colorado to a 6-3 win over St. Louis and a 3-1 series lead.

Now things are a little different.

Kadri is back in an Avalanche uniform after spending several seasons with the Calgary Flames, while Binnington is still with the Blues and will be in the crease Saturday night.

One thing that hasn't stayed the same, though, is Binnington's play.

He's not quite the goaltender he was when he helped lead the Blues to the Stanley Cup in 2019. Last season, Binnington posted a career-low .873 save percentage, and at one point during the season, that number dipped to around .864.

Colorado got a pretty good look at him on New Year's Eve last season. Binnington faced 43 shots and allowed six goals, including three from Valeri Nichushkin, who now plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

It could be another tough night for Binnington on Saturday.

Then again, he's shown he can still come up big when the stage gets bigger. We saw that with Team Canada at the Olympics and Four Nations.

But on the NHL side of things, it's been a rough stretch for Binnington.

The Avalanche will see what they can do with him Saturday when they take on their longtime rival at Ball Arena.

Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.