Thoughts on Kronwall’s Hit

I was going to do a typical recap of Friday’s loss to the Blackhawks but I realized that I care surprisingly little about it.

Maybe it’s because I wrote the game off early in the second period, after Chicago had been awarded the first eleven minutes of power play time. Five of those minutes were from the Niklas Kronwall interference major / ejection, which is what everyone will be talking about.

I don’t agree with the five-minute major call on the hit, not do I agree with the ejection. I think it differed from Mike Brown’s hit on Jiri Hudler in the Anaheim series in two small but important ways.

#1 – Kronwall kept his arm down and Brown led with his forearm.

#2 – Brown came in late while Kronwall made his hit with the puck right in Havlat’s feet.

Like Mike Babcock, I’d be surprised if any supplementary discipline were handed out in this case. A precedent has been set, whether right or wrong.