Here they go again: Lightning vs. Panthers in Round 1, for Sunshine State hockey supremacy

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — It’s starting to feel like an annual tradition: Panthers vs. Lightning in the NHL playoffs, the battle of Florida, a matchup that has seemed to decide which team will eventually get to the Stanley Cup Final.

And here they go again.

Defending Stanley Cup champion Florida heads to Tampa Bay for Game 1 of an Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday night, the start of the fourth postseason meeting in five years between the Sunshine State rivals. Tampa Bay won the East title in 2020, 2021 and 2022; Florida is trying to match that run of success after winning the East in 2023 and 2024.

“I think you see it every game we play, whether it’s preseason in Orlando or whether it’s Game 1 of the playoffs,” Panthers forward Sam Reinhart said. “We’ve kind of known that the other one’s going to be there at the end of the year. It’s kind of always, we’re going to have to go through each other. I think there’s that respect there … but we almost love to hate each other.”

Tampa Bay beat Florida 4-1 in 2021 (on its way to a second consecutive Stanley Cup title) and swept the Panthers in 2022 — giving up just three goals in that series. Florida beat Tampa Bay in six games last season, on its way to its first Cup win.

“They know us and we know them,” Lightning forward Brayden Point said. “We’re looking forward to it. They’re always tight series and it’s going to be a good one.”

Since the season resumed in February after the break for the 4 Nations Face-off event, Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky — both of them Stanley Cup winners — have looked playoff-sharp.

Vasilevskiy had a 1.89 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in that span. Bobrovsky had a 1.95 GAA and .914 save percentage. And both had three shutouts.

Bobrovsky backstopped Florida to the Cup last season.

“I don’t remember much from what happened last year,” Bobrovsky said. “It’s a new season, it’s a new challenge, it’s a new contest and we’re excited about it. We just want to enjoy that experience and we’re going to try our best to win it.”

A look at some stats in the Panthers-Lightning rivalry:

— Wins this season: Florida 47, Tampa Bay 47.

— Head-to-head wins this season: Florida 2, Tampa Bay 2.

— Wins in last 20 meetings (including playoffs): Florida 10, Tampa Bay 10.

— Goals, last 40 meetings (including playoffs): Florida 128, Tampa Bay 128.

— Goals, last 145 meetings (including playoffs): Florida 454, Tampa Bay 454.

— Record in last 168 head-to-head meetings (including playoffs): Florida 80 wins, Tampa Bay 80 wins, with eight ties.

The state of Florida has had a team in the Stanley Cup final in each of the last five years.

If the Lightning-Panthers winner gets there again this year, it'll mark the longest stretch of one state or province making it to consecutive title rounds since Alberta — Edmonton six times, Calgary twice — had a team there in eight straight seasons from 1983 through 1990.

No U.S. state has made it to the title round in six straight years since New York saw the Rangers get there in 1979 and the Islanders in each of the following five seasons.

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper has won 87 playoff games with the Lightning, the third-most of any coach with one franchise in NHL history.

He won’t be catching Al Arbour anytime soon; Arbour won 119 with the New York Islanders for the most by any coach with one club. But Cooper enters this series just two wins behind Glen Sather, who won 89 with Edmonton.

“There’s 32 teams. There’s only 16 left. We’re one of the 16,” Cooper said. “I think every year, we get looked at as, ‘OK, their time’s over.’ And every year, these guys come back and prove they can do it. It’s been amazing to be part of for more than a decade.”

Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov won the scoring title this season with 121 points, his second consecutive year finishing No. 1 on that list and his third consecutive 100-point season. That's the good news.

Here's the bad news.

No scoring champion has played for that season's eventual Stanley Cup champion since Evgeni Malkin with Pittsburgh in 2008-09. And only four players in the last 25 years have tallied 100 or more points, then gone on to win that year's Cup: Malkin and Sidney Crosby in 2009, Carolina's Eric Staal in 2006 and Colorado's Joe Sakic in 2001.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) celebrates his goal against the Florida Panthers with center Brayden Point (21) and center Yanni Gourde (37) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson (31) congratulates goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) after an NHL hockey game against the New York Rangers, Monday, April 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) acknowledges the crowd after the Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ahn Sung-ki, one of South Korean cinema’s biggest stars whose prolific 60-year career and positive, gentle public image earned him the nickname “The Nation’s Actor,” died Monday. He was 74.

Ahn, who had suffered blood cancer for years, was pronounced dead at Seoul's Soonchunhyang University Hospital, his agency, the Artist Company, and hospital officials said.

“We feel deep sorrow at the sudden, sad news, pray for the eternal rest of the deceased and offer our heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family members," the Artist Company said in a statement.

President Lee Jae Myung issued a condolence message saying Ahn provided many people with comfort, joy and time for reflection. “I already miss his warm smile and gentle voice,” Lee wrote on Facebook.

Born to a filmmaker in the southeastern city of Daegu in 1952, Ahn made his debut as a child actor in the movie “The Twilight Train” in 1957. He subsequently appeared in about 70 movies as a child actor before he left the film industry to live an ordinary life.

In 1970, Ahn entered Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies as a Vietnamese major. Ahn said he graduated with top honors but failed to land jobs at big companies, who likely saw his Vietnamese major largely useless after a communist victory in the Vietnam War in 1975.

Ahn returned to the film industry in 1977 believing he could still excel in acting. In 1980, he rose to fame for his lead role in Lee Jang-ho’s “Good, Windy Days,” a hit coming-of-age movie about the struggle of working-class men from rural areas during the country’s rapid rise. Ahn won the best new actor award in the prestigious Grand Bell Awards, the Korean version of the Academy Awards.

He later starred in a series of highly successful and critically acclaimed movies, sweeping best actor awards and becoming arguably the country’s most popular actor in much of the 1980-90s.

Some of his memorable roles included a Buddhist monk in 1981’s “Mandara,” a beggar in 1984’s “Whale Hunting,” a Vietnam War veteran-turned-novelist in 1992’s “White Badge,” a corrupt police officer in 1993’s “Two Cops,” a murderer in 1999’s “No Where To Hide,” a special forces trainer in 2003’s “Silmido” and a devoted celebrity manager in 2006’s “Radio Star.”

Ahn had collected dozens of trophies in major movie awards in South Korea, including winning the Grand Bell Awards for best actor five times, an achievement no other South Korean actors have matched yet.

Ahn built up an image as a humble, trustworthy and family-oriented celebrity who avoided major scandals and maintained a quiet, stable personal life. Past public surveys chose Ahn as South Korea’s most beloved actor and deserving of the nickname “The Nation’s Actor.”

Ahn said he earlier felt confined with his “The Nation's Actor” labeling but eventually thought that led him down the right path. In recent years, local media has given other stars similar honorable nicknames, but Ahn was apparently the first South Korean actor who was dubbed “The Nation's Actor.”

“I felt I should do something that could match that title. But I think that has eventually guided me on a good direction,” Ahn said in an interview with Yonhap news agency in 2023.

In media interviews, Ahn couldn’t choose what his favorite movie was, but said that his role as a dedicated, hardworking manger for a washed-up rock singer played by Park Jung-hoon resembled himself in real life the most.

Ahn was also known for his reluctance to do love scenes. He said said he was too shy to act romantic scenes and sometimes asked directors to skip steamy scenes if they were only meant to add spice to movies.

“I don’t do well on acting like looking at someone who I don’t love with loving eyes and kissing really romantically. I feel shy and can’t express such emotions well,” Ahn said in an interview with the Shindonga magazine in 2007. “Simply, I’m clumsy on that. So I couldn’t star in such movies a lot. But ultimately, that was a right choice for me.”

Ahn is survived by his wife and their two sons. A mourning station at a Seoul hospital was to run until Friday.

FILE - South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki smiles for a photo on the red carpet at the 56th Daejong Film Awards ceremony in Seoul, South Korea, June 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki attends an event as part of the 11th Pusan International Film Festival in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 13, 2006. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)