SUNRISE, Fla. — After each victory by the Florida Panthers, Brad Marchand is well aware of what`s coming next: his teammates use their sticks to propel plastic rats in his direction as they depart the ice, a rather peculiar postgame ritual in the National Hockey League.
“Yeah, they`re shooting to hurt now,” Marchand remarked on Saturday, speaking ahead of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes. “Matthew Tkachuk caught me with one last game that I actually really felt there.”
The tradition among Panthers fans of throwing toy rats onto the ice following wins dates back to the 1995-96 season. This began after forward Scott Mellanby famously dispatched a rodent with his stick – an incident forever known as “The Rat Trick” – in the same season the team made a remarkable journey to the Stanley Cup Final. Over time, rats have become unofficial symbols for the franchise, to the extent that their official team store stocks not only merchandise adorned with rodents but also the plastic rats themselves.
Marchand has frequently been labeled a “rat” over his 16-year NHL career, a term in hockey slang used to describe an agitator on the ice. Therefore, this particular postgame celebration naturally evolved when the Panthers acquired him from the Boston Bruins at the NHL trade deadline.
With the ice often covered in plastic rodents after Panthers victories, Marchand`s teammates started aiming the rats at “The Rat” as they headed toward the dressing room.
So, how did this tradition of targeting Marchand specifically begin?
“They see my family on the ice and want us to be together,” Marchand quipped with a straight face.
In truth, 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.
Brad Marchand`s teammates show no restraint when aiming plastic rats at him.
Joel Auerbach/Getty Images
Subsequently, Florida captain Aleksander Barkov and Tkachuk, who also possesses a reputation as an agitator, joined in by slapping rats towards Marchand.
“It`s just one of those things that happens organically,” Marchand stated. “We don`t overthink it. We just have fun out there.”
This practice isn`t limited to games played at the Panthers` home arena. In Raleigh for Game 2 of the conference finals, certain attending Florida fans tossed enough rats onto the ice after the 5-0 win to provide the players with projectiles for Marchand.
That marked the first time Florida coach Paul Maurice witnessed this particular tradition directly, as the coaching staff waited for the players to clear the rink.
“I will tell you that they`re shooting them as hard as they can,” Maurice commented on the force used. “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 characterized the ritual as a “small sampling” of the camaraderie and enjoyment the Panthers share as they pursue a second consecutive Stanley Cup championship. Center Sam Bennett indicated that this playful attitude is simply part of the team`s 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,” Bennett said, describing their consistent approach. “I think it`s just the way our team prepares and it seems to work for us. So we definitely enjoy it.”
Maurice observed that the fun experienced during the regular season is significantly amplified during a deep playoff 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.
Duncan Priestley 
Gareth Tenby