Ever since the 4 Nations Face-Off started, and one can even go back weeks -- if not months prior -- that a large portion of a nation this time doubted St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.
Once again, the Richmond Hills, Ontario native was backed into a corner, just like the years he was trying to build his NHL career leading up the moment of becoming a Stanley Cup champion in the very same building in 2019 that Binnington was about to carry the weight of an entire nation in the championship game of the of the 4 Nations Face-Off against the United States on Thursday inside TD Garden in Boston.
So many prognosticators classified Canada's goaltending as the weakest of the bunch, which included USA, Sweden and Finland. Calls for Logan Thompson and Mackenzie Blackwood, to name some, were thrown out as players that should have received the call over Binnington, who beat the Boston Bruins in Game 7 in that building on June 12, 2019. He stopped 32 of 33 shots in a 4-1 win, capping St. Louis' first-ever Stanley Cup.
On Thursday, when Canada needed the 31-year-old the most, once again, when the stakes are high and all the chips are thrown in, Binnington is the Phil Helmuth, the Daniel Negreanu, the Doyle Brunson, the Phil Iveys of all-ins. He faced 33 shots again, and stopped 31 of them.
Connor McDavid scored to give Canada a 3-2 overtime win over the United States in another terrifically-played game between the two countries, but it doesn't get to the point of McDavid's goal without the heroics of a goalie that was basically cursed, questioned ... you name it, it was a lot of negative.
When the tournament started, it didn't take long for prognosticators, both from fans and even a number of media members, to question Canada's choice to lead it between the pipes. It's almost as if they wanted to see Binnington fail.
Three goals against vs. Sweden, but he saved Canada in that overtime win. Two goals allowed against USA in which each was questioned by those sitting high in the stands or on their television sets, once again not realizing this was a best-on-best tournament for a reason; and against Finland, when Binnington had a shutout going through 43 minutes in a relatively easy game that turned too nervy when the Finns scored three times to turn a 4-0 deficit into a 4-3 deficit and once again bring forth all the doubters.
And sure, since his rookie season, just looking at the stats alone, they're not always pretty.
But when that game got tense on Thursday in a hotly-contested 2-2 game, USA came with a vengeance. Fourteen shots between the third period and overtime, and the dam couldn't be broken.
Ask Auston Matthews, one of the best modern goal scorers in the NHL (twice) about how he thought he was winning gold for his country. Ask Brady Tkachuk, St. Louis' own, who thought he was bringing USA glory on this night, only to be denied.
Matthews, a third time, thought he had it won. But Binnington, in his greatest Dikembe Mutombo impersonation, 'Not in my house, no, no, no!'
And for all those calling Canada's brass idiots for selecting Binnington to the squad and for coach Jon Cooper sticking with his guns and riding the only goalie to play every game of the goalies that participated in this tournament now speaks volumes.
"Everyone can criticize in different ways or whatever, but all that kid does is win the big one," Cooper told SiriusXM NHL Network Radio's Scott Laughton on the ice after the game. "I had the utmost confidence in him from Day 1.
"You now what, you look at him, maybe we didn't need him against Sweden as much but we needed him in overtime. And then you get to the Finland game, we really didn't need him much until the last five minutes. And tonight, I didn't think we needed him until we did need him. And he made those saves in overtime and gave us a chance to win, and that's what winners do, they win."
In two winner-take-all games inside TD Garden, Binnington delivered the goods. He did it once for his team, for his city, and he did it again. This time, for his country: