Dallas Stars defenseman roasted for terrible 3-flop sequence

Flopping may be more common in basketball, but given the nature of hockey, it might be more dramatic on the ice. And for this performance, Dallas Stars defenseman Esa Lindell deserves a Razzie more than an Oscar — although he tried to sell this flop so, so hard.

In the Stars’ Stanley Cup Playoffs second-round Game 3 matchup against the St. Louis Blues on Monday, Lindell and Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo were getting into it with each other a little, and late in the second period, Bortuzzo lightly crosschecked Lindell, who dove forward into the boards not once but twice.

And after the whistle, Bortuzzo, obviously now frustrated, took another seemingly harder shot at Lindell, who crumbled like a piece of paper and came crashing down to the ice. But come on, this is still a terrible flop.

Regardless of what you think of it, both players went to the box, Bortuzzo for crosschecking and Lindell for embellishment, because, obviously. And the St. Louis defenseman was not pleased with the call against him.

No goals resulted from those two penalties, but the Blues ultimately won, 4-3, and took a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is Wednesday in Dallas, and the winner of the best-of-seven series is headed to the Western Conference Final.

And naturally, hockey fans had some great jokes about Lindell’s oh-so-obvious embellishing.