PITTSBURGH — They got it right in St. Louis on nullifying that Blues goal on the offside video review Friday night, and isn’t that, a) what the rule is designed to do; and, b) the only thing that matters?
Nowhere is it spelled out that only egregiously bad offside calls be overturned. There is no Leon Stickle Amendment, named for the linesman who somehow missed the Islanders being offside by two feet before scoring the 2-1 goal in the eventual 5-4 overtime Game 6 Cup winner over the Flyers at the Coliseum in 1980.
Offside calls are like those dozens of bang-bang plays at first base, or tag plays at second or at home plate that, under the microscope, are incorrect.