Brad Marchand In Favor of New Panthers' Rat Tradition

For Florida Panthers left winger Brad Marchand, his teammates just want to reunite him with his family after every win.

He has been called a "rat" on the ice since early in his career. Marchand has quickly become a staple in the Panthers' lineup and a fan favorite since being acquired from the Boston Bruins just before the trade deadline.

After the Panthers win a game, whether it be on home ice or in enemy territory, several of his teammates circle around him and fire plastic rats at him that the fans throw on the ice. The Panthers fans throw plastic rats on the ice after they win a game as they pay homage to their past.

The rat tradition started during the home opener in 1995-1996 at the old Miami Arena. There was a rat in the dressing room, which was promptly killed by former Panthers star Scott Mellanby. Mellanby then went out and scored three goals, which was called "a rat trick".

After wins, Evan Rodrigues, Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov form a circle around Marchand and fire rats at him with their game sticks. Marchand said some of the rats sting and leave a mark. Rodrigues started the new tradition, while Tkachuk and Captain Barkov joined in afterwards.

"Those are things that just kind of organically happen sometimes," Marchand said. "We don't overthink it. We just have a little bit of fun there. And yeah, it's just again, small sample size of one of the things that allowed us to have some fun together," Marchand said. ""Yeah, they're shooting to hurt," he said. "[Tkachuk] caught me with one that actually I felt there."

Panthers coach Paul Maurice is in favor of the new tradition and would like to see it continue four more times during the Stanley Cup finals which begin on Wednesday night in Edmonton.

"All of those little stories that happen over the course of the year, they're even way better in the playoffs," Maurice said. "Two years ago, they were giving out a bone and I think it was from a steak that Scott Tinkler, one of our equipment managers, must have ate. He's not a big guy, but he ate like an 80-ounce steak or something and had a bone with it, and the next thing you know it's in the room and that's what they're giving around for player of the game. Those are the really fun stories that are kind of organic. That's the players' time.

"So, now they're ripping the plastic rats off 'Marchy.' It's funny as hell."