Panthers Coach Paul Maurice Loves New Team Tradition Of Shooting Rats At Brad Marchand

It's still kind of weird to see Brad Marchand in any sweater that doesn't have a big, spoke "B" on the chest, but he is already a key part for the Panthers, who are currently on a roll.

So much so that it seems like they have a fitting new team tradition in honor of Marchand.

After winning big in Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Panthers kicked off the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes with a pair of wins in Raleigh, with the series shifting to South Florida for Game 3 on Saturday night.

As the Cats were leaving the ice after thumping the Hurricanes 5-0, they celebrated in a new way.

Some of the team's famous rubber rats made the trip up from Sunrise and onto the ice, and who better to wing them at than the dude who is known as "The Rat."

It's hilarious, and I think that needs to be a tradition moving forward. Marchand may get sick of it, but I promise you, fans will not.

In fact, it doesn't sound like his head coach will get sick of it either.

So coach definitely isn't going to tell them to knock it off any time soon, and why should he? The vibes are high for the Panthers right now.

As I said, they're leading the Eastern Conference Final 2-0 and are headed back home, but they also won each of those games big, outscoring the Hurricanes 10-2 through those first two games.

Now, if you go back to the previous series against the Maple Leafs, the Panthers have played three straight games in which they scored five or more goals.

So the offense is hot, but so is the goaltending. Sergei Bobrovsky has been an absolute wall all postseason long.

They're heating up to the point that they could be the team to beat right now.