Common sense is a hell of a concept.

The NHL didn’t always apply it to its video reviews on goals. There was always that lingering doubt about whether or not one could visually, unquestionably and completely see the puck cross the goal line.

That’s not necessarily the standard any longer.

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Witness the Nashville Predators’ goal against the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 7, in which a Filip Forsberg tally was initially waived off but then that call was overturned on a War Room review, as they felt the puck completely crossed the line in Jacob Markstrom’s glove, despite only being able to make out about half of it inside his webbing.

“We don’t go with the old adage that you don’t have to see the puck itself. We’ve had situations where the puck has been between the goalie’s pads, and both pads are inside the goal line. Sure, we didn’t see the puck in the net, but it wasn’t outside the net,” said NHL President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell, to Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on Wednesday.

“In a lot of cases, we have to use common sense,” he said. “If we don’t, it’s ridiculous.”

Speaking of ridiculous…

This was the (admittedly gorgeous) Zach Parise goal for the Minnesota Wild that was allowed to stand after a Chicago Blackhawks coach’s challenge on Wednesday night, despite everyone from Pierre McGuire to Mr. Magoo (no relation) plainly seeing the play was offside.

From the NHL:

Review was not conclusive in determining whether Parise had had tagged up at the instant the puck touched Charlie Coyle’s stick. According to Rule 78.7, “If a review is not conclusive and/or there is any doubt whatsoever as to whether the call on the ice was correct, the On-Ice Official(s) will be instructed to confirm their original call.” Therefore the original call stands – good goal Minnesota Wild. Since the Coach’s Challenge did not result in the original call being overturned, the Chicago Blackhawks forfeit their time-out.

Again, we revisit the dulcet tones of Colin Campbell on NHL Radio: “In a lot of cases, we have to use common sense. If we don’t, it’s ridiculous.”

Cases like this:

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And cases like this:

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The Blackhawks won the game in overtime, 4-3, to take some of the sting out of this. But the goal helped Minnesota pull a charity point out of it, remaining five points ahead of Chicago in the Central, a.k.a. the difference between the Nashville Predators in Round 1 and someone like Calgary.

Again, it’s “common sense” one night and “well ya couldn’t actually see the puck hit the tape” two nights later.

And the crazy part is that the NHL actually thought they figured out how to get these offside calls right!

They added two blue-line cameras to every arena this season that feeds directly to the NHL. No more trying to work the angles of a local TV broadcast’s cameras: These are ice-level, Hi-Def cameras.

“We now have the two best views,” said Campbell.

And yet …

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Story continues