Brad Marchand has been called a rat for much of his NHL career, so the Florida Panthers saw an opportunity to shoot plastic rats at their new teammate.
After Florida’s Game 2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals, some Panthers fans in Raleigh, North Carolina littered the ice with the rats.
Evan Rodrigues and Aleksander Barkov shot them at Marchand as they were leaving the ice with the coaching staff looking on amused.
“I will tell you, they’re shooting them as hard as they can. They’re not flipping them at him. There’s shrapnel around there, and I didn’t have any equipment on,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice told reporters, via ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. “I was just trying to get off the ice. Like, it hurt. But they’re eating them up at them, and he’s trying to get out of the way. It is funny as hell.”
The rat is nothing new to the Panthers. It became synonymous with the franchise in 1995 when Scott Mellanby killed one in the locker room.
Jeremy Swayman looks to remain perfect in Team USA’s biggest game on Sunday afternoon at the World Championship.The Boston Bruins goalie is a perfect 6-0 through the tournament with a .908 save percentage and a 1.98 goals-against average.
Swayman has a chance to not only pick up his seventh win, but also help team Team USA to a gold medal against Switzerland.
“I couldn’t be happier to be at this tournament, especially based on the year I had,” Swayman said in Sweden, via The Hockey News. “I feel like a completely new human being and a completely new goalie. The guys in this room have been so incredible for just supporting me, and it’s just been a contagious locker room of joy. I just feel like a completely new human being.”
