Playoff optimism means the rats are out again in Florida

playFlorida honor the 20-year anniversary of the Panthers Rat Trick by giving away thousands of rubber rats to fans. Florida wins the game 3-2, but receive two bench penalties for fans throwing the rats onto the ice. (1:01)Is this the moment where history and reality become strange bedfellows? Or should that be rat-fellows?

The story of the good luck rat and the Florida Panthers is one of the touchstones for a franchise quite short on anything resembling "historic" moments.

Early in the 1995-96 season Scott Mellanby famously dispatched a rat that had the temerity to try to traverse the Panthers locker room before a game. He scored twice that night, and Mellanby's feat was described by…