Goalie stops breakaway late, comes up with key stop prior to Marner OT goal against Czechia
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Another chance in a big moment, Jordan Binnington not only relishes them; he craves for them.
In what turned out to be a fascinating quarterfinal matchup in men's Olympic hockey between Canada and Czechia, the St. Louis Blues goalie made sure the heavily-favorited Canadians would survive.
Nick Suzuki (Montreal Canadiens) scored late in the third period to tie it, and Mitch Marner (Vegas Golden Knights) scored in overtime for Canada, which survived Czechia's upset bid, 4-3, on Wednesday in quarterfinal play.
Despite allowing three goals in the game, one off a redirection in the crease, another on a David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins) one-time rocket from the left circle and a third by Ondrej Palat (New York Islanders) off an odd-man rush from the inner circle slot, 'Big Game Binner' saved his best for last -- again -- when he stopped a breakaway by Martin Necas (Colorado Avalanche) with 1:10 remaining in regulation of a 3-3 game, then made another lunging save in OT to keep the game going.
It's who he is. It's what he does. He did it in the 4 Nations face-Off championship game against the United States in 2025, and he did it again in Milan, Italy.
There was a lot of hooting and hollering going on behind the scenes at Centene Community Ice Center after the Blues and their coaches came off the ice following practice. Certainly all eyes were on the conclusion of the Canada-Czechia matchup.
When it ended, Blues coach Jim Montgomery offered the following on Binnington, who made 21 saves Wednesday.
"He's amazing. He's truly amazing," Montgomery said. "We've said that all year.
"I know it's been a hard year for everybody, him included, but I have never wavered my belief that this is a guy you win championships with and now he goes out and he does it again today. We're just incredibly lucky to have him.
"... 'Binner' has leadership qualities that if he was outside of not being a goalie, he would definitely be wearing a letter."
Binnington is now 3-0 with a 1.65 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.
Defenseman Colton Parayko had one shot on goal, which required a lunging left pad save by Czechia goalie Lukas Dostal (Anaheim Ducks), but played just 10:17 in the contest.
Canada advanced to Friday's semifinal against an opponent yet to be determined (pending the final outcome of Sweden-USA quarterfinal game).
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