NHL hockey ops: Lehtera 'was millimeters offside'

Hockey - sports in general - was always thought to be a game of inches. Until video review came along. Now we're dealing with the smallest units of measurement, when the stakes are at their highest.

The talk of the hockey world Saturday was Vladimir Tarasenko's go-ahead goal for the St. Louis Blues on Friday night, which was disallowed after it was ruled Jori Lehtera was offside. The goal would have made it 3-2 St. Louis. Instead, the Chicago Blackhawks rallied for a late goal of their own, which review upheld, and won the 3-2 to tie the series at 1-1.

New blue line cameras were used to determine Lehtera was, in fact, offside. Kay Whitmore, a former NHL goalie and now senior director of hockey operations for the league, said without those cameras, Tarasenko's goal counts.

"The blue line cameras situated right on the blue line gives you a true sight line of what's actually happening," Whitmore said, according to NHL.com's Amalie Benjamin. "Without those cameras, this would have been a tough call to make. You could probably say that the skate might have been in, but if there's any doubt on the ice, then the original call has to stand.

"To be honest, this was one of the closest ones we've had. You're looking at a puck - not just when it enters the zone. You're actually looking at when the skate comes off the ice and if it stays on the ice when the puck enters the zone."

Whitmore's next comments were the most telling. These calls - as close as it gets, unable to determine unless looking at slow-motion replay - were not why replay was instituted.

"I think the initial purpose of an offside challenge was to rid the game of egregious calls where a player is a foot or two offside, but you can't just do those ones," he said. "If it's offside, it's offside, and this one was millimeters offside.

"You just have to have as much technology as possible once you institute a rule like this. I think, like I said, there will be a debate probably for a long time (from) hockey purists about whether the intent of this rule was to take down goals like this, but maybe that's a discussion for another day.

"Did that skate in the air, does it have a real effect on what happened after that? You can argue that all day, but the rule is, it's always been, you have to have your skate on the ice crossing the blue line. Until there's a rule change, this is the way it's going to have to be."

It's hard enough to win the Stanley Cup. These questionable video reviews in what is one of the fastest games on the planet make it that much harder.