The Panthers had to learn how to win. The Lightning helped show them the way

Winning in the Stanley Cup playoffs and becoming a championship-capable team, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said, is an art. It's something that has to be learned.

Turns out, the Lightning were good teachers.

And the Florida Panthers were really good students.

The Lightning, unbeknownst to them at the time, planted the seeds for this run of postseason by their cross-state rival Panthers. Tampa Bay swept Florida in the second round of the 2022 playoffs, simply dominating the series. It forced the Panthers to make sweeping changes. And Florida has taken over as state champions ever since.

The Panthers own the Sunshine State hockey world yet again, finishing off a five-game, first-round ousting of the Lightning for a second consecutive season on Wednesday night.

“Whether they swept us or it was 4-1 or 4-2, to me that's kind of irrelevant,” Cooper said. “They beat us. ... We've been the rep in the Stanley Cup Final the last five years. It was our turn for a while. Now it's theirs.”

Next up for Florida: Round 2 against Toronto. The Maple Leafs eliminated Ottawa in six games, finishing the series on Thursday night.

“It’s not easy. Every game was tight,” said Florida forward Eetu Luostarinen, who had a goal and three assists in Wednesday's 6-3 victory in Game 5 that clinched the series in Tampa. “But we’ll enjoy this a little bit and then focus on the next one.”

The state that hardly ever experiences winter has become an absolute hockey juggernaut, with the pendulum now having fully swung the Panthers' way. Tampa Bay won the Cup in 2020 and 2021, then played for it again in 2022 — the year they swept the Panthers with ease. Florida played for the Cup in 2023, won it in 2024 and is now one round closer to getting there again this year.

Over those six seasons, including playoffs, Florida owns the third-best winning percentage in the NHL, a smidge better than fourth-place Tampa Bay. It is a spectacular rivalry, certainly one of the best in the sport right now.

“I would buy season tickets for the four games that’ll get played next year on that alone,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

Cooper knows what the Panthers said after the 2022 sweep against his team: They had to learn to beat them. A year later, Florida trailed Boston — the best team in the NHL regular season that season — 3-1 in Round 1, then rallied and ousted the Bruins in seven games. They were on their way.

“They built a team. They got a sniff of it. They went to the final. Didn’t win. Came back, went to the final and won,” Cooper said. “And who knows what they’re going to do this year. They’re primarily the same team but now they know how to do it and there’s only a few teams in the last little while that really know how to do it. We were one of them. And now they’re one of them.”

Florida has now made the second round in four consecutive seasons, a complete turnaround from the once-moribund days of the franchise — which went to the second round exactly once in its first 27 seasons. The team went more than a quarter-century without a playoff series win, only to now have won more playoff games over the last four years than any other club.

The lessons were learned. And the Panthers can only hope the ride continues.

“Obviously, we're doing some things right," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said.

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

Florida Panthers center Brad Marchand (63) works against Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser (90) during the third period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Florida Panthers center Eetu Luostarinen (27) celebrates his goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the third period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) shakes hands with Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) after Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) celebrates his goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning with center Carter Verhaeghe (23) and center Aleksander Barkov (16) during the third period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Multiple people were shot Saturday in the area of Brown University, police said, as the school issued an active shooter alert and urged students and staff to take shelter during the second day of final exams.

Police did not immediately release details about the victims’ conditions or the circumstances of the shooting.

University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case and that police were still searching for a suspect or suspects, according to alerts issued through Brown’s emergency notification system.

The reported shooting occurred near the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the university’s School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.

Students were urged to shelter in place as police responded to the scene, and people were told to avoid the area. Officials cautioned that information remained preliminary as investigators worked to determine what had occurred.

Police were actively investigating and still gathering information from the scene, said Kristy DosReis, the chief public information officer for the city of Providence.

Brown is a private, nonprofit Ivy League institution with roughly 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students. Saturday was the second day of final exams for the fall semester.

In this image from video, law enforcement officials gather outside the Brown University campus in Providence, R.I., on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)

FILE - The logo for Brown University is displayed at the school's campus in Providence, R.I., on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)