St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington has a chance to set a rookie record that even Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Matt Murray didn’t reach during his memorable first-year playoff run in 2016.
With a 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night, Binnington recorded his 14th victory of the postseason. The series is tied, 2-2. No rookie goalie has ever won 16 games in one playoff run.
Four rookie goalies have won 15 — Murray, Carolina’s Cam Ward in 2006, Philadelphia’s Ron Hextall in 1987 and Montreal’s Patrick Roy in 1986.
Jordan Binnington moved within one victory shy of matching the NHL rookie record for wins in a single postseason. #NHLStats #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/HniWP0rbc1
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 4, 2019
Murray didn’t get the 16th because he missed the first two games of a first-round series with the New York Rangers because of a concussion. Jeff Zatkoff famously was the winning goaltender in Game 1.
Ward was limited to 15 wins because coach Peter Laviolette went with veteran Martin Gerber in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against Buffalo after the Hurricanes lost two of the first three games.
Hextall was stuck on 15 when the Flyers lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to Edmonton.
Roy didn’t hit the 16 mark because the first round was a best-of-five series in 1986.
