Rat trick The rat trick was a gimmick popularized by fans of the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) during their 1995 – 96 season and trip to the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals . The term , a play on hat trick , was coined by Panthers goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck after teammate Scott Mellanby killed a rat in the locker room prior to the team ' s home opener , then scored two goals . Fans immediately picked up on the idea and began throwing plastic rats on the ice to celebrate goals . By the time the Panthers reached the 1996 playoffs , thousands of rats hit the ice after every Panthers goal , resulting in an off - season rule change by the NHL that allowed for referees to penalize the home team if fans disrupt the game by throwing objects onto the ice . Origin . The 1995 – 96 season was the third in the NHL for the Panthers , who had been awarded as an expansion franchise in 1992 . The team was composed of journeymen veterans and rookies and led by all - star goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck . As the team prepared for its home opener against the Calgary Flames on October 8 , 1995 , a rat entered the dressing room , startling several players . Scott Mellanby reacted by shooting the rat across the locker room with his stick , killing it . He then went out and scored two goals in a 4 – 3 victory over the Flames , leading the Panthers to their first win of the season . Vanbiesbrouck described the incident to reporters after the game , stating that while Mellanby failed to score a hat trick ( three goals in one game ) , he did manage a " rat trick " . During the next game , a fan threw a plastic rat onto the ice following a Panthers goal . The following game , a few more rats hit the ice . Eventually , over 100 rats were tossed to the ice following Panthers goals , as the Panthers emerged as the top team in the league by mid November . Florida finished the regular season in third place in the Atlantic Division , and qualified for the playoffs for the first time . Additionally , this Panthers ' playoff appearance coincided with the Year of the Rat in the Chinese zodiac . This led fans to believe that the Panthers would have great luck in the playoffs . 1996 Stanley Cup playoffs . The Panthers defeated the Boston Bruins in five games , then the Philadelphia Flyers in six to reach the Eastern Conference finals . They then defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games to win the Prince of Wales Trophy as the rat tossing craze reached its peak as 3 , 000 rats rained onto the ice following goals . While officially frowning on the practice of throwing rats , the team nonetheless brought on Orkin as a sponsor and employed a crew of 40 rink attendants dressed up as exterminators to clear the ice after each Florida goal . The " year of the rat " in south Florida reached a fever pitch as the Panthers made their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals . Area supermarkets sold " rat cakes " — cupcakes with rats drawn in frosting — while baseball ' s Florida Marlins showed the Panthers ' game seven victory against the Penguins , in Pittsburgh , on the jumbotron between innings and had the Panthers ' arena announcer on hand to announce when the team scored a goal . The Panthers , who had sold out only 15 of 42 home games during the regular season , sold out their first two playoff games against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in seven minutes . In the first game of the finals , a 3 – 1 Colorado victory , fans of the Colorado Avalanche responded by throwing rat traps onto the ice in Denver following Avalanche goals . The Avalanche won the second game handily , 8 – 1 , to lead the series 2 – 0 as the teams returned to Miami for games three and four . During the first period of game three , Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy famously refused to duck under his net , as other goalies had , to hide from the barrage of rats after he surrendered a goal in the first period . During the intermission , Roy announced to his team that there would be " no more rats " . True to his word , Roy did not surrender another goal as the Avalanche won game three , then shut out the Panthers 1 – 0 in game four to sweep the series and win Colorado ' s first Stanley Cup . Legacy . Directly as a result of Florida ' s rat trick craze , the league amended its rules prior to the 1996 – 97 season to prevent a recurrence of this phenomenon and the delays to the game that accompanied it . The league declared that if fans threw debris onto the ice , the referee can have the public address announcer warn the fans to stop . After a warning , the referee can then issue a delay of game penalty to the home team . The league , however , created a special exemption for articles " thrown onto the ice following a special occasion " , specifically excluding the traditional tossing of hats onto the ice following a hat trick goal from being subject to the penalty . The Panthers held a " Year of the Rat " alumni reunion in 2007 to celebrate the 1996 team and raise money for the Florida Panthers Foundation . As part of the event , the Panthers sold plastic rats for fans to toss onto the ice during the exhibition game , which saw the participation of at least 19 members of the 1996 team . Mellanby , who retired in 2007 , was always remembered for spawning the rat trick . " It became the motto of our team that season . When I played in the all - star game , a kid came up to me and said , ' You ' re the rat guy . ' He didn ' t even know my name ; he just knew I killed the rat . "