When the Blackhawks traded James ‘Wiz’ Wisniewski last season, I was the first to balk about that.  How could the Blackhawks trade a valued and tough d-man like that?  Since then, the Hawks have been struggling with their ‘D’ no question about it.  But watching as Wiz and Brent Seabrook exchanged pleasantries before the first intermission in tonight’s Hawks/Ducks game and then watching Wisniewski gun for Brent Seabrook in the 2nd period and purposely leave his skates and take Seabs out by the head?!  Oh, them’s fightin’ words Wiz!  And are you kidding me with that “charging” call?  What?  No automatic ejection?  Not even boarding?

At least Duncan Keith rushed in to box Wisniewski’s ears after that dirty hit.  Similarly, Nick Boynton more than proved his worth in having a go at Wisniewski in the last minute of the game.  If only Boynton had gotten some good shots under Wiz’s visor!

And seriously, if ever we Hawks fans had to prove that the ‘War Room’ in Toronto was out to get us, this game would live on in infamy as proof!  This isn’t like the Alexander Ovechkin hit on Brian Campbell.  When Ovi hit Soupy, I’m not so sure there was “intent” there like everybody keeps saying.  Did Ovi intend to hit Soupy that hard, or is Brian Campbell just that crunchy?  However, when you take a running skate from the blue line, like James Wisniewski did, and then shoulder and forearm a guy in the head while taking a running leap off your skates, I think you can safely be said to be gunning for someone!  Judging from Joel Quenneville’s reaction on the bench, I think he agreed.

And yes, while the NHL will certainly review this, will they rightfully punish James Wisniewski (meaning a big fine and multiple game suspensions), or simply take it out on the whole of the NHL by restricting players even more?  No NHL, for the nine millionth time, you don’t need to crack down on fighting or body checking.  You simply need to more harshly punish offenders.  That’s all!  And you can start by throwing the book at James Wisniewski because while Wiz played on, Brent Seabrook was out having a very unpleasant MRI. (And he will probably be out for several games hereafter with a nasty concussion.)

P.S.  Props go to Corey Crawford for maintaining poise during what was clearly a nerve-racking game!

P.P.S.  Jonathan Toews still looks too thin and sickly.  Seriously, what’s wrong with this boy?  Does nobody else notice this??  I think this is why the Hawks keep losing.

What was evident in game four is that the Hawks were extremely undisciplined committing repeated needless penalties.  For instance, Kris Versteeg committed a conspicuous cross-checking penalty (resulting in a Red Wings goal) in the second period, served his two minutes, and was back on the ice for mere seconds before being called for roughing.  Then, for Steegy’s big finale, he was thrown out of the game in the third period for a game misconduct.  Similarly, how many times did Ben Eager need to be called for a game misconduct before he realized he should shut his mouth and maintain his composure?

Don’t get me wrong, the officiating in this game was off.  They didn’t call a lot of hooking and tripping, only to turn around and make calls for roughing that were unjustified.  But the Hawks certainly didn’t help by being so conspicuous about some of the penalties they did commit.  As I said in a prior post, when the Red Wings stepped up their D, which they obviously did today, the Hawks would be in for an ordeal, and an “ordeal” is just how I would describe today’s game.

And the final nail in the Hawks’ coffin in game four was the goal tending.  Subbing for the injured Nikolai Khabibulin was Cristobal Huet who could have (and should have) been pulled after the third Red Wings goal but was pulled after the fourth instead.  Corey Crawford did ok only allowing one goal, so why put Cristobal Huet back in for the third period?  (And where was Antti Niemi?)

Surely, this has to have been the worst game we’ve seen all year with the Hawks lacking their usual poise leading to the 6-1 loss to the Red Wings.