St. Louis Blue goaltender Jordan Binnington opened up Tuesday on his frustration at being pulled early in the team’s 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks Monday night.

Binnington allowed two goals on the first five shots of the game and appeared to have words for head coach Jim Montgomery after being pulled midway through the first period.

“It was just my instinct. I wasn’t happy. That’s who I am as a person and I’m sure in the big picture people would respect that,” Binnington said, per Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic. “I respect the fire when people want to be out there and want to play.

“At the same time, he’s the coach and he makes the decisions and I totally respect that, too.”

Binnington cont’d: “They got two goals and that’s hockey and the game always finds a way to keep you humble. It’s all part of it. Whether we won or lost yesterday, I’m coming in and I’m doing the same thing today.” (2/2) #stlblues

— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 2, 2025

Montgomery did his best to downplay the exchange postgame, thoughBinnington’s frustrations were clear as he stormed down the tunnel and remained in the locker roomfor the rest ofthe period before joining the bench for the second.

“You know, I love Jordan Binnington,” Montgomery said. “He’s a competitor. He raises his games in the big moments all the time. I love him. He walked off the ice, he said, ‘I love you!’ I said, ‘I love you, too!’

“We’re both competitors, and at the end of the period, he waited for me, we apologized and we moved on. It’s over and done with.”

“It was good to clear it up and move forward,” Binnington added of the discussion between the two. “Big picture, we’re focusing on winning hockey games and making a playoff push. This is just a small fraction of time we can both move on from, and for me, get back to work and keep building my game.”

The 32-year-old Binnington has struggled this season with a 6-6-5 record with a .878 save percentage and a 3.20 goals-against average. Monday marked just the second time he’s been pulled this season, with Montgomery also taking him out after he allowed four goals on 15 on Nov. 5 against the Washington Capitals.

“For me, I’ve always looked at where the goals came from, and what’s the percentage that those goals should go in,” Montgomery said of making the decision to pull a goalie. “A lot of times you let goalies fight through it. But sometimes, when I feel that the goalie looks off, just like a player, I pull back his minutes.

“I sit [Pavel Buchnevich] and [Robert Thomas] for two minutes, they don’t play 19 minutes, they play 17 minutes and no one really notices. Unfortunately for a goalie, everybody knows that you’re pulling him.”

Fellow Blues netminder Joel Hofer, who posted his second shutout of the season on Saturday against the Utah Mammoth, has also not been without his struggles this season. The 25-year-old has a 3-5-2 record with a .882 save percentage and a 3.29 GAA. He allowed one goal on 20 shots in relief of Binnington Monday.

The 9-11-7 Blues will visit the Boston Bruins Thursday and Montgomery declined to say Monday who will get the start in the first of a three-game road trip.