![]() In the end, the plastic rats hurt the Panthers in the 1996 Stanley Cup final. ![]() Mellanby’s most productive season during his 21 years in the NHL was 1995-96 when he had 32-38-70 totals in 79 games to go along with 160 penalty minutes. Skrudland became the Panthers’ first captain and Mellanby scored the first goal in franchise history - a 4-4 tie with the Blackhawks in Chicago. Skrudland (from the Calgary Flames) and Mellanby (from the Edmonton Oilers) were both claimed by the Panthers in the 1993 NHL expansion draft. Killed it right under the tape rack and the trainers put an RIP on it and Scott went out and scored two goals and they called it a rat trick. Scotty had his stick on the ground that time and that rat went right onto the stick and Scotty one-timed it across the room. “Listen, there wasn’t just one rat and they weren’t plastic rats,” Skrudland recalled. Skrudland said rats were a common sight in the Panthers’ locker room at Miami Arena. “You got to be remembered for something and I guess this is my place in history,” Mellanby said. We really rallied around the dead rat.”ĮSPN recently did a terrific video on the Year of the Rat and interviewed Mellanby, who went on to become an assistant general manager with the Canadiens for seven years under Marc Bergevin. It was a bit of a rallying cry back then. So I was sure glad to see that some of the fans remember the rats. It’s stuff that the Montreal Canadiens have been built off for over 100 years now - all those stories. “I think it’s great,” Brian Skrudland, who won the Stanley Cup as a rookie with the Canadiens in 1986 and was captain of the Panthers during their first run to the Cup final 10 years later, said about the return of the rats in a phone interview last week. But the rats have returned this season with the Panthers trailing the best-of-seven final 2-0 heading into Game 3 Thursday at the FLA Live Arena (8 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports). Article contentĪfter the Panthers were swept by the Avalanche in the 1996 Cup final, the NHL outlawed throwing rats on the ice. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
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