Esa Lindell's Epic Flopping, Diving Performance Should Go Down In NHL History

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- Hockey players are among the toughest athletes on the planet. Sometimes they also flop. These two things are not mutually exclusive.

This reality played out in spectacular, marvelous, downright awe-inspiring fashion on the ice in Dallas on Monday night.

It was magnificent.

The performance came late in the second period, with the Stars on a power play and the St. Louis Blues leading 2-1, with the second-round playoff series tied at 1-1. The puck was pinned in the corner, and your standard semi-violent scrum ensued.

Jason Spezza and Justin Dowling of the Stars battled for the puck along the wall, while Jay Bouwmeester and Alexander Steen of the Blues did their very best to keep that puck stuck to the wall, so as to drain more time off that Dallas power play.

Meanwhile, St. Louis' Robert Bortuzzo and Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell backed off from the epicenter of the action, waiting and ready to jump on the puck once it eventually squirted free. And Bortuzzo was feeling feisty.

Bortuzzo abused Lindell with a few shoves and light cross-checks to the midsection, perhaps reminding the 24-year-old Finn that playoff hockey sometimes hurts. Such contact almost never draws a penalty call (unless you're Brad Marchand) around this time of year, and Bortuzzo surely knew that as he offered his series of hits, which ranged from love-tap power to somewhat-punishing contact.

After three cross-checks, though, Lindell had had enough. It was on cross-check No. 4 that Lindell decided he was going to turn into a 6-foot-3 wet noodle as soon as he felt the composite shaft of Bortuzzo make contact with his body. Lindell collapsed into the end boards, looking to draw a penalty on Bortuzzo to put the Stars up on a 5-on-3 power play (and also save himself from absorbing further pain). It didn't work.

As soon as Lindell plopped to the ice, Bortuzzo pointed at him, as if to say, "I really didn't do that." Because he hadn't done that.

Play continued. Lindell heroically climbed to his feet, looked around, and figured with no penalty call, he might as well continue to play hockey.

Ha ha, just kidding, he flopped again.

Another cross-check to the lower back, this one with a little oomph from Bortuzzo, and down went Frazier Lindell.

This time, Lindell was successful in drawing a penalty on Bortuzzo. Huzzah! The fans in Big D were elated.

Alas, Lindell had been foiled by his own ingenious plan, as he, too, was sent to the penalty box.

Two minutes, embellishment.

Had this been the end of the incident, then we probably wouldn't be discussing it right now. Such things happen over the course of a hockey game. Lindell wasn't the first NHL player to flop like a ragdoll in an attempt to draw a penalty. He won't be the last.

But it was what happened after the penalties had been assessed that really turned this into a historic moment. It was amazing. Truly.

Bortuzzo was none too pleased to have gotten penalized for a gentle shove of an opponent during a 2-1 playoff hockey game, so after barking at the ref, he turned to Lindell, who was smirking in Bortuzzo's face. Bortuzzo gave him a little two-hand shove to the chest. Nothing major. As Bill Burr would put it, Bortuzzo gave him a little Right There, Fred.

But Lindell reacted as if he had just stepped on a land mine and also gotten hit by a speeding Mack Truck and also got swept up in an EF4 tornado and an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, all at the same time. Lindell looked as if he had been sent to another dimension.

It was ... beautiful.

You truly have to see it to believe it.

After the third and final flop, Bortuzzo reacted as any sane man would, screaming to everyone and no one, "HE'S DIVING!"

Didn't matter. The two went to their respective penalty boxes, and that was that.

Now, again, had the matter ended there, then, well, OK. It was a memorable moment in a playoff hockey game for all of us to recall years down the line. We could all one day have the little tykes sit on ol' grandpappy's lap so we could share the tale of Esa Lindell and the triple-flop performance.

Alas, the story later grew into legend.

The end of this game was -- to use a hockey term -- bananas. Andrew Cogliano tied the game at 2-2 with a shorthanded goal with 6:54 left in regulation. Alex Pietrangelo answered with a St. Louis goal 1:18 later to give the Blues a 3-2 lead. Tyler Seguin scored 88 seconds later to knot the score at 3-all with just over four minutes left to play.

The Dallas crowd was going nuts.

Overtime -- or a Stars victory -- was imminent. You could just feel it. You could sense it. You could smell it.

Ah, but the Blues had other plans.

With 1:45 left in regulation, Bouwmeester whirled a puck behind the net from the left point. The big-bodied Pat Maroon was able to casually retrieve the puck from behind the goal line on his backhand, get the puck to his forehand, and roof a shot over the downed Ben Bishop's body to score what proved to be the game-winning, crowd-deflating goal to give the Blues a 2-1 series lead.

After seeing Maroon nonchalantly gathering this puck and scoring, the question on everybody's mind was the same: How on EARTH did the Stars lose track of a 6-foot-3, 225-pound forward on the goalmouth in the final minutes of a tied game? How could this happen?

The answer? Well, you'd never be able to guess this, but ... Maroon was left all by his lonesome because ... Esa Lindell was facedown on the ice ... after getting lightly shoved in the back of the head by Maroon.

I kid you not.

Now, as has been mentioned, Maroon is a big boy. It is entirely possible that his shove, however light, was powerful enough to move Lindell off his spot in front of the net.

But was it powerful enough to send the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Lindell to the ice in a heap?

No. No it was not.

Lindell was apparently focused not on defending his own net in a 3-3 playoff game but instead on drawing an interference or roughing penalty on Maroon. Lindell not only stumbled after getting shoved; he completed the fall to the ice, where he remained on his belly as Maroon took his time winning the game for the Blues.

Lindell didn't get the call. The Stars lost the game. History was made.

Très magnifique!

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

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• Dallas Stars
• NHL