Everyone Is Still Confused By The Worst Embellishment Call In NHL History

In hockey, the most embarrassing penalty you can possibly be assessed is embellishment. This isn't the NBA or soccer, where floppers are regarded as heroes. In the NHL, divers are pariahs, scoffed at by fans and fellow players alike.

Which is why Evan Rodrigues was probably not happy about being the recipient of what is unarguably the worst embellishment call in the history of the National Hockey League.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers squared off in Game 2 of their second-round series on Wednesday night, and we all knew going into this one that it would be very physical.

That was the case, and at the 8:18 mark of the second period, things really popped off when Leafs forward Scott Laughton sent Rodrigues face-first into the boards.

Now, it was not exactly a predatory hit from behind, but it was pretty obvious that Rodrigues was shaken up on the play, which started a bit of a melee that resulted in Laughton getting a double minor for roughing, while Florida's Nate Schmidt also earned himself some time in the sin bin with a roughing minor.

But the surprise came when the penalties were announced and Rodrigues — who had already gone down the tunnel and into the visitors' locker room — was given a minor penalty for embellishment.

That was certainly on the precipice of being worth of a boarding penalty, and clean or not, Rodrigues went into the board pretty awkwardly. 

But, if you can find the embellishment in there, please hit me up on X (@matt_reigle) because I legitimately can't figure out what the officials were looking at.

I'm not alone in this:

Rodrigues did return to action, and according to Sportsnet, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said he didn't receive an explanation for the call.

At this point, though, the Cats have bigger concerns to focus on than a phantom embellishment call as the series shifts to South Florida with the team trailing 2-0 in series after losing Game 2 by a score of 4-3.