SUNRISE, Fla. — After every victory for the Florida Panthers, Brad Marchand knows exactly what`s coming: his teammates launch plastic rats at him using their sticks as they leave the ice. It`s one of the more bizarre post-game rituals in the NHL.
“Yeah, they`re shooting to hurt now,” Marchand commented on Saturday, speaking before Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes. He added, “Matthew Tkachuk caught me with one last game that I actually really felt there.”
Panthers fans have been tossing toy rats onto the ice in celebration since the 1995-96 season. That year, forward Scott Mellanby famously killed a rat in the locker room with his stick – an incident forever known as `The Rat Trick` – before the team embarked on a surprising journey to the Stanley Cup Final. Rats have since become unofficial symbols for the franchise, so much so that their official team store sells both merchandise adorned with rodents and the plastic rats themselves.
Marchand has frequently been called a `rat` throughout his 16-year NHL career, a term in hockey slang for an agitator on the ice. Therefore, the celebration naturally evolved when the Panthers acquired him from the Boston Bruins at the NHL trade deadline.
With the ice covered in plastic rodents after Florida wins, Marchand`s teammates started targeting “The Rat” with the rats as they headed toward the dressing room.
How did this particular tradition begin?
“They see my family on the ice and want us to be together,” Marchand deadpanned.
In reality, it was Panthers winger Evan Rodrigues who first shot a rat at Marchand during a celebration.
“Yeah, I don`t know how it started. But I think we won the first game he was here, so we ended up doing it. And it`s just kind of became a thing,” Rodrigues explained.
Later, Florida captain Aleksander Barkov and Tkachuk – who also has a reputation as an agitator – joined in, swatting rats at Marchand.
“It`s just one of those things that happens organically,” Marchand said. “We don`t overthink it. We just have fun out there.”
This practice isn`t limited to home games. In Raleigh for Game 2 of the conference finals, Florida fans in attendance threw enough rats onto the ice after the 5-0 victory to provide the Panthers players with ammunition for Marchand.
That was the first time Florida coach Paul Maurice witnessed the tradition firsthand, as the coaching staff waited for the players to exit the rink.
“I will tell you that they`re shooting them as hard as they can,” Maurice commented. “They`re not flipping them at him. There`s shrapnel around there, and I didn`t have any equipment on. I was just trying to get off the ice without getting hurt. They`re heating them up at him, and he`s trying to get out of the way. That`s funny as hell.”
Marchand described it as a “small sampling” of the enjoyment the Panthers share as they pursue a second consecutive Stanley Cup championship. Center Sam Bennett stated that this playful attitude is just part of their team identity.
“We don`t change the way we prepare for games from regular single games to playoff games. We`re always joking around. Even before Game 7 [of the Stanley Cup Final], there was just as many chirps and jokes going around before that game as in a preseason game,” he said. “I think it`s just the way our team prepares and it seems to work for us. So we definitely enjoy it.”
Maurice added that the fun experienced during the regular season is amplified during a long postseason run.
“There are really fun stories that are just kind of organic. Now they`re ripping the plastic rats off Marchy, and it`s funny as hell,” he concluded.
Rupert Hartwell