Dunham said he didn't work too much with Binnington on technique, but they focused more on his confidence and other mental parts of the game, and he had high praise for how Binnington handled the situation.
"Jordan came in and got comfortable with the teammates quickly, and I think that helped a lot," Dunham said. "He just came out and he worked hard every day. He came out, he did what we asked of him. He did all the goalie drills, he worked hard. There were a lot of weekends where he played just Saturday games. He got his game and he went in there and did the best that he could do. He put up really good numbers for us last year."
Those numbers have continued with St. Louis.
"I respect his (perseverance) a lot," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Where he's come out of junior and things like that, I'm sure that he thought he'd be right in there maybe a lot quicker than he had or I'm sure the organization thought the same thing, but it doesn't always work out that way. He's not the only one. There's been lots of players like that over the years, but it's on him. He stayed with it, worked hard and he got an opportunity this year and he's making the best of it. It's nice to see. Happy for him."
Heinen doesn't think the little bit of experience some Bruins had facing Binnington in practice will make much of a difference.
"I don't know, I don't think so," Heinen said. "I think it's all situational, every game's different, but yeah, he's a good goalie and we're going to have to do what we can to beat him."
But Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy is always looking for any edge. So he hopes Bruins goaltending coach Bob Essensa, who is responsible for scouting the opposing goalies, can use anything he gleaned from last season in Providence, or from talking to Dunham, to aid Boston's cause.
"Well I'd like to think it would help," Cassidy said. "Goalie Bob knows him, he was down in Providence, so there's a little extra there. I don't think it will affect Binnington much. He's playing well, I'm sure he's going to be on this game, play the way he plays, even though it might be a little more inside information that we would have than maybe a San Jose did. But at the end of the day, it can't hurt, right, to have a little experience with him on some little details."
NHL.com correspondent Louie Korac contributed to this report
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