TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper didn’t mince words once the regular season ended.

The East is no cakewalk.

What You Need To Know

Cooper pointed out ahead of his team’s first-round playoff series against the cross-state Florida Panthers, how difficult it is to win championships.

“That’s a lot of times not being able to get through the gauntlet,” Cooper said. “It’s hard. It’s really hard to do.”

The Lightning will begin their quest for a fourth Stanley Cup crown Sunday at 12:30 p.m. at the Florida Panthers. 

That said, the Lightning are not entering the matchup as the favorite.

While the Lightning aren’t the same team that went to three straight Stanley Cups Finals (2019-2022), the Panthers have become a much-improved squad.

In fact, the Panthers are very much the squad that advanced to the Finals last season and look ready to improve upon that finish.

Still, this is Lightning-Panthers. This is a true rivalry, which means anything can happen.

And, this is the playoffs, meaning Tampa Bay knows when and how to flip a switch.

The Panthers’ roster is loaded with talent, starting with their stars, center Aleksander Barkov (23 goals/57 assists), right wing Sam Reinhart (57 goals) and left winger Matthew Tkachuk (62 assists).

Meanwhile the Lightning will rely on a stable crop of playmakers in Nikita Kucherov (Fifth player in NHL history to record 100 assists in a single season), Steven Stamkos (40 goals) and Brayden Point (46 goals).

Victor Hedman remains a presence on defense while also chipping in offensively. Hedman recorded 63 assists, second after Kucherov.

And few teams have a goalkeeper with as much playoff cache as Andrei Vasilevskiy.  

"This team took a couple months to find itself," Cooper said. "Especially with some of the bumps in the road but really proud of the group, because it's a new group and they found a way."