SUNRISE, Fla. – Florida coach Kevin Dineen was fretting on the bench as the Panthers were trying to protect a two-goal lead, a mere minute away from taking a 3-2 lead over New Jersey in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff matchup.
At that moment, Dineen wasn't only worried about the outcome.
No, he was also fixated on the toy plastic rat sitting on the ice. The "Rat Trick" — an odd South Florida hockey tradition — is going strong once again.
It dates back in Florida to the 1995-96 season, when fan favorite Scott Mellanby used his stick to exterminate one of the critters in the Panthers' dressing room before a game, then went out and scored two goals that night. Mellanby's actions soon became part of the team's lore, and fans are now encouraged to litter the ice with plastic rats after every home win.
Except, well, many don't wait that long.
"A lot of premature rats out there," Panthers forward Kris Versteeg noted after Florida beat the Devils 3-0 in Game 5 on Saturday night, moving one win from the franchise's first series victory since that 1996 season, when the rat tossers watched their team go all the way to the Stanley Cup finals.
The series resumes Tuesday night in New Jersey, with the Devils needing a win to force a trip back to South Florida for a Game 7 on Thursday night — where fans with rats surely will be waiting.
"I'm a great believer in tradition," Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "I think it's great for the fans. It's kind of a pain when you play."
Despite repeated pleas from the public-address announcer and plenty of notices being flashed on the team's massive center-ice scoreboard — saying anyone caught throwing a rat during the game would be ejected, plus risk the team getting a two-minute penalty for delay of game — there's more than a few fans who pay no heed. At least a couple dozen hit the ice after every Florida goal.
The Panthers are worried. The Devils are unhappy.
"Even if you look at the reaction of some of the Panthers' players, some of them are kind of shaking their heads about it," Brodeur said. "Just for the NHL to let them give out rats, come on. That's unbelievable."
Actually, they're not given out. They're sold for $5 apiece.
It's also tough to know which fans are creating the problem. On Twitter, there are a number of purported Devils fans who claim to be some of the ones throwing rats after goals, with hopes of seeing New Jersey be awarded a power play.
So far, the Panthers have scored nine goals at home in this series. No penalties — well, not yet.
"Great win but fans, we cannot throw rats during the game," Panthers President Michael Yormark tweeted Saturday night after the win. "This has become a serious issue."
Celebratory throws onto the ice have been a part of the game for as long as anyone can remember.
Someone scores three goals in a game, fans toss their hats. In Detroit, the tradition of having octupi hurled onto the playing surface at Joe Louis Arena is believed to have started back in the early 1950s.
It doesn't just happen in the NHL, either. In NCAA Division III hockey, Plattsburgh and Oswego have a longstanding rivalry that might be best known for what fans would throw at the other team following the first goal of games — at Plattsburgh, it was tennis balls, while the projectile of choice at Oswego was bagels. The schools managed to snuff out both traditions a few years ago.
In Florida, crews hit the ice after every goal with shovels and buckets, scooping up the toys. Problem is, the rats don't always just fly after goals.
With just over a minute left Saturday and Florida up 2-0, the Devils' David Clarkson was making a desperate rush for the puck as he crossed the blue line to enter the Panthers' zone. The puck was knocked away. Clarkson's skate hit a rat instead.
"I'm a little concerned about the rats in the middle of the game," said Dineen, who lauded the "electric atmosphere" of the biggest postseason crowd in team history. "I know there's a lot of Devil fans throwing them out there trying to get us a delay of game penalty there. I hope that's something we can hold until the end of the game."
When the final horn sounded, hundreds of the rats were tossed to the ice, the toys bouncing and skidding along the surface as the Devils shuffled toward their dressing room and the Panthers surrounded goalie Jose Theodore — who made 30 saves for the shutout — in celebration. A few of the Panthers whacked at the rats with their sticks, an homage of sorts to Mellanby, now an assistant coach with St. Louis who still finds the rat frenzy "funny and creative."
He hasn't played for Florida in more than a decade, yet remains an icon with Panthers fans today, largely for one rat killing nearly two decades ago.
Wrote Mellanby on Twitter: "Have to be remembered for something I guess."
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Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds
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