diff --git a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/transport/netty/NettyClientHandler.java b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/transport/netty/NettyClientHandler.java
index f07990d0d3..407782cea9 100644
--- a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/transport/netty/NettyClientHandler.java
+++ b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/transport/netty/NettyClientHandler.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 
 package io.grpc.transport.netty;
 
+import static io.netty.handler.codec.http2.Http2CodecUtil.getEmbeddedHttp2Exception;
 import static io.netty.util.CharsetUtil.UTF_8;
 
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
@@ -247,6 +248,17 @@ class NettyClientHandler extends Http2ConnectionHandler {
     }
   }
 
+  @Override
+  public void exceptionCaught(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Throwable cause) throws Exception {
+    if (getEmbeddedHttp2Exception(cause) == null) {
+      // Kill the connection instead of propagating the exceptionCaught(). Http2ConnectionHandler
+      // only handles Http2Exceptions and propagates everything else.
+      goAwayStatus(Status.fromThrowable(cause));
+      cause = new Http2Exception(Http2Error.INTERNAL_ERROR, null, cause);
+    }
+    super.exceptionCaught(ctx, cause);
+  }
+
   @Override
   protected void onConnectionError(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Throwable cause,
       Http2Exception http2Ex) {