Giving away 10,000 toy rats to fans as they arrived at the arena was supposed to be a promotion for the Florida Panthers.
It turned into a problem instead.
The Panthers were penalized twice in the third period of Thursday's 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils because fans were throwing the rats onto the ice despite warnings not to do so. New Jersey didn't score on either resulting power play, but that wasn't enough to keep Panthers star Jaromir Jagr from saying after the game that he wasn't pleased with the situation.
"I don't really agree with the penalties," Jagr said. "We can always say, 'Hey, it was New Jersey fans throwing them, we should have the power play.' It's too important a game and it's going to be more important in the playoffs. I don't think we should get two minutes for that. I think the league should do something about it."
Actually, the league did something about it -- two decades ago.
The Panthers' rat craze is a nod to the 1995-1996 season, when as the story goes, Scott Mellanby killed a live one with his stick in the locker room of the team's former arena before going out and scoring two goals. The toy rats started flying in celebration in the games that followed, and after that season, the NHL changed its rules to say that teams could be assessed minor penalties for such outbursts.
And that's what happened twice Thursday.
In recent years at Panthers' home games, the rats typically fly after victory. But with 10,000 of them handed out before the game Thursday, there was concern that they might get thrown early.
"When we throw stuff on the ice, it's the rule, it's been the rule for a long time, they've got to know better," Panthers Coach Gerard Gallant said. "Our guys battled hard and we love our fans and we love the rats, but I hope that doesn't happen again."
Gallant bit his tongue slightly when asked if he would request team management from doing a similar giveaway in the future.
"That's not my department," Gallant said. "But like I said, I hope the fans understand that these are important games and points for us. I hope they understand that you can't throw these rats until the end of the game."
Jagr's fear is that it will happen again, and not necessarily by Florida fans.
"If they're going to give us a penalty every time somebody throws a rat, then where are we going to play in the playoffs?" Jagr said. "They're just going to hire some guy to throw rats and get power plays all game. It doesn't make sense to me."
That crazy Cuban
Every year on the first of April various websites compile top 10 lists of the all-time sports April Fools' Day pranks.
"Every time there's a list, someone sends it to me," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said with a smile earlier this week.
On April 1, 2003, Cuban hired a fake NBA referee and had a faux shouting/shoving/wrestling match with the impostor during a second-quarter timeout of a Mavericks-New Orleans game at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
"We did it, and I remember thinking, 'I hope this doesn't crater,' " Cuban said. "When I stood up and there was the first shove, I could hear the whole place gasp. Then we went at it and I could hear everybody going nuts. Then I started laughing and blew it."
Sports on 04/02/2016