Brad Marchand pulls a dirty trick on Rasmus Dahlin.

If all the praise that has surrounded veteran National Hockey League forward Brad Marchand over the course of the last year or so has caused you to forget why he earned the nicknames "The Rat" and "The Little Ball of Hate" over the years, Marchand just gave everyone a big reminder.

On Saturday, Marchand and the Florida Panthers faced off against the Buffalo Sabres in what turned out to be a pretty nasty game with plenty of physicality on both sides of the ice. There was perhaps no moment however that captured it better than a mid-game clash between Marchand and Sabres star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.

Marchand was on the receiving end of a crosscheck to the back courtesy of Dahlin, one that was stiff enough to knock Marchand off his skates, and that set into motion a series of events in which some of the old Marchand came bubbling to the surface. Marchand wasn't about to let Dahlin get away with his crosscheck and chased him down, tripping Dahlin to the ice, before mauling the Sabres forward in retaliation for the crosscheck.

Here's a look at the video:

Marchand wasn't done there however and instead took things a step further by stealing Dahlin's helmet and taking it to the penalty box with him. Marchand then proceeded to pull off one of the dirtiest tricks I've seen at the NHL level, tearing apart Dahlin's helmet before returning it to the ice for the Sabres defenseman to pick up.

Of course by the time Marchand was done tearing the straps off the helmet, it was no longer of any use to Dahlin or anyone else for that matter.

Here is the video of the thief in action:

And a close up of him destroying the helmet:

Something tells me we haven't seen the last of this, not by a long shot.