Was a real, bloody rat thrown on the ice after the Panthers Game 3 win?
The customary rain of plastic rats on the Amerant Bank Arena ice after a Panthers win featured a deep cut poke at Edmonton superstar center Connor McDavid.
Both McDavid and his Robin, Leon Draisaitl, were held pointless by the Panthers in Monday’s 6-1 Stanley Cup Final Game 3 rout, the first time neither picked up a goal or assist in these playoffs.
As the Panthers basked briefly in the fan love and the Oilers tromped to the locker room, a plastic rat that hit the ice in the defensive zone nearest the Edmonton skidded across the ice. A bright red trail described its route to the boards. From the most seats and the Roger Neilson Memorial Press Box, this looked like someone slashed open an actual rat and hurled it onto the ice.
But, a still from the Sportsnet broadcast showed it to be a broken bottle of ketchup hitched to a plastic rat. Why would someone do that?
Same reason someone from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Palm Beach County metro area might throw a dead bloody chicken on the ice — to mess with McDavid. This included no call on supernatural forces, however.
Puckheads know the Oilers captain doesn’t like ketchup. OK, that’s wallowing in understatement. He uses words such as “fear” and “phobia” to describe his aversion, such as during an interview with retired Norris Trophy-winning defenseman P.K. Subban.
In fact, Heinz made sport of McDavid’s fear of ketchup in an Instagram post last October.
This story was originally published June 10, 2025 at 12:51 AM.
