FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — For Florida and Tampa Bay players, the hitting is happening on the ice.
For the coaches, it's happening at the microphone.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice and Lightning coach Jon Cooper have much in common besides having their names etched onto the Stanley Cup and residing in Florida. They're both savvy in how they deal with media. They're both masters of dry humor. And they don't mind being on the receiving end of a light-hearted jab.
Case in point: Cooper, after Tampa Bay won Game 3 of the teams' first-round series, cutting Florida's lead to 2-1 going into Game 4 on Monday night.
He remembered exactly what Maurice said when Tampa Bay's Brandon Hagel hit Florida's Aleksander Barkov in Game 2 and earned a 5-minute major for interference. So, when Florida's Matthew Tkachuk drew the same penalty for a hit on Tampa Bay's Jake Guentzel in Game 3 on Saturday, Cooper seized the opportunity.
Maurice's line going into Game 3: “The only players we hit are the ones that have pucks.”
Cooper's line after Game 3: “The only players we hit are the ones with pucks.”
Not quite word-for-word, but close enough. Hagel was suspended for one game following his hit. Tkachuk was not suspended for his.
And this much is clear: At least some members of the Panthers' camp thought Cooper's line was funny and well-delivered. Among them was Michelle Maurice, who told her husband that she liked Cooper's response.
“My wife had a good chuckle,” Maurice said. “I think she thought it was pretty funny. I think the coaches probably will have to take over the chirping at some point. It's kind of a lost art on the bench. So, it was all good.”
Cooper is particularly skilled in the art of rebuttal: He was an attorney before becoming a two-time Cup-winning NHL coach. Maurice heard Cooper's line later Saturday night when he was at home watching other playoff games.
“He chirped me. I saw it. I’m at home watching the Senators game and he chirped me,” Maurice said. “Which I appreciate. He used my own words on me, too. I mean, I’m not sure it was applicable to the events on the ice, but it was still good. Well done.”
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, rear, reacts during the third period against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper reacts against the Florida Panthers during the second period in Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. flu infections showed signs of a slight decline last week, but health officials say it is not clear that this severe flu season has peaked.
New government data posted Friday — for flu activity through last week — showed declines in medical office visits due to flu-like illness and in the number of states reporting high flu activity.
However, some measures show this season is already surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history. And experts believe there is more suffering ahead.
“This is going to be a long, hard flu season,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, in a statement Friday.
One type of flu virus, called A H3N2, historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. So far this season, that is the type most frequently reported. Even more concerning, more than 91% of the H3N2 infections analyzed were a new version — known as the subclade K variant — that differs from the strain in this year’s flu shots.
The last flu season saw the highest overall flu hospitalization rate since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. And child flu deaths reached 289, the worst recorded for any U.S. flu season this century — including that H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic of 2009-2010.
So far this season, there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses and 180,000 hospitalizations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. It also estimates there have been 7,400 deaths, including the deaths of at least 17 children.
Last week, 44 states reported high flu activity, down slightly from the week before. However, flu deaths and hospitalizations rose.
Determining exactly how flu season is going can be particularly tricky around the holidays. Schools are closed, and many people are traveling. Some people may be less likely to see a doctor, deciding to just suffer at home. Others may be more likely to go.
Also, some seasons see a surge in cases, then a decline, and then a second surge.
For years, federal health officials joined doctors' groups in recommending that everyone 6 months and older get an annual influenza vaccine. The shots may not prevent all symptoms but can prevent many infections from becoming severe, experts say.
But federal health officials on Monday announced they will no longer recommend flu vaccinations for U.S. children, saying it is a decision parents and patients should make in consultation with their doctors.
“I can’t begin to express how concerned we are about the future health of the children in this country, who already have been unnecessarily dying from the flu — a vaccine preventable disease,” said Michele Slafkosky, executive director of an advocacy organization called Families Fighting Flu.
“Now, with added confusion for parents and health care providers about childhood vaccines, I fear that flu seasons to come could be even more deadly for our youngest and most vulnerable," she said in a statement.
Flu is just one of a group of viruses that tend to strike more often in the winter. Hospitalizations from COVID-19 and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, also have been rising in recent weeks — though were not diagnosed nearly as often as flu infections, according to other federal data.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - Pharmacy manager Aylen Amestoy administers a patient with a seasonal flu vaccine at a CVS Pharmacy in Miami, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
