St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington appeared to have words for head coach Jim Montgomery after being pulled midway through the first period in Monday’s loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Binnington allowed two goals on the first five shots of the game and Montgomery made the quick decision to turn to Joel Hofer instead. Binnington appeared to make comments toward Montgomery before storming down the tunnel and remaining in the locker roomfor the rest of the period.

“You know, I love Jordan Binnington,” Montgomery said after the eventual 4-1 loss to the Ducks. “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.”

Jim Montgomery on Jordan Binnington: “He walked off the ice, he said ‘I love you,’ I said ‘I love you, too.’ We’re both competitors by nature. At the end of the period, he waited for me. We apologized, we moved on. It’s over and done with.”

— Matthew DeFranks (@MDeFranks) December 2, 2025

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, withMontgomery 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.”

While Monday’s decision clearly did not sit well with the netminder, he returned to the bench for the second and third periods after speaking with Montgomery in the first intermission.

“It’s just the professionalism that you expect from someone like Binner, as well as letting my own ego go, and just going to him,” Montgomery said. “It’s important that you deal with it right away. I don’t love dealing with conflict, but in life you have to deal with conflict and you deal with it right away and nothing festers then.”

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.