Was Hartley Wrong For Starting His Fourth Line?

The decisions are in for Torts and Hartley. After this happened, it was guaranteed that both managers would face some sort of discipline. 

Canucks coach John Tortorella received a 15 day suspension without pay (six games) for losing his rag and attempting to enter the Calgary Flames' dressing room at the interval. 

Torts takes on the whole Flames team. Sporting News.

Flames' coach Bob Hartley was handed a $25,000 fine for instigating the whole bust up by starting his thug line. 

Hartley defended his starting lineup, saying "Those guys are playing well for us" and "they got us a goal last game... we had zero intentions out there." The skaters in question are Kevin Westgarth and Brian McGrattan. 

Westgarth and McGrattan have contributed a goal each so far this season. To put that in perspective, each has scored as many goals as Coyotes goalie Mike Smith. McGrattan has provided two assists this season. So that's something I suppose. 

Usually when a fourth liner is playing well he is promoted to the third line, or even higher. Westgarth and McGrattan are not playing at the same standard as Jiri Hudler and Lee Stempniak. So why start them? Even more so; why start them together?

Because Hartley started his fourth line, Torts couldn't put his top shooters at risk, if the Sedin twins and Ryan Kesler were to get battered, the Canucks would be screwed. This meant that Vancouver's big men lined up, and that would always mean a fight was on the cards.  

So, was Hartley in the wrong for starting his fourth line? Yeah. Absolutely. The line about McGrattan and Westgarth playing well doesn't fly. Firstly, they aren't playing well. Secondly if they were playing at a higher level, Hartley could have mixed the lines up, experimented a little. 

Responsibility for the brawl lies with Hartley. He has (publicly at least) accepted the fine. Which says to me that he knows he did wrong. Although in his defense, his actions made a Flames/Canucks game memorable. Which takes some doing.