Martin St. Louis, left, of the New York Rangers, and Ryan Callahan of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
There was no bigger deal at the NHL trading deadline in 2014 than Martin St. Louis going from the Tampa Bay Lightning to the New York Rangers for Ryan Callahan and draft picks.
Captain for captain. The face of the Lightning franchise — unhappy as he was at the time — for a homegrown, hard-working blue collar guy the Rangers were not going to be able to re-sign.
For the Rangers, it was the last piece of the puzzle in getting them to the Stanley Cup Finals. St. Louis probably provided more of an emotional lift than a scoring one with his ability to rally after his mother's death in the second round.
A year later, St. Louis and Callahan are again focal points, this time as the Rangers and Lightning meet in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
Coming in, both carry question marks. Callahan has yet to score a goal in the post-season and had an appendectomy earlier this week. St. Louis not only hasn't scored in the playoffs, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault benched him in the third period of Game 7 against Washington on Wednesday.
"Of course coaches make decisions at key times in the game for whatever reason," St. Louis said Friday after practice . "I've never liked being left on the bench at certain times, but that's just reality. If I liked it, I don't think I would be here today. Nobody likes that.
"But right now I'm focusing on Game 1 and helping my team win. I'm not too worried about what happened toward the end of that game. I trust AV's judgment."
St. Louis has had chances, but has been unable to bury the puck. It's won't get any easier against the Lightning and goaltender Ben Bishop, who has not lost to the Rangers in eight games.
Bishop has a 1.81 goals-against average in 13 playoff games.
That St. Louis is struggling going into a series when people will focus on him adds more pressure.
"Like I said, I've got a lot of close friends, but this is playoff hockey," said St. Louis, who will turn 40 next month. "We've got the rest of our lives to be friends. This is right now a team that's in our way of getting where we want to be."
Vigneault rarely talks about his lineups, and he refused to discuss his plans for St. Louis, who skated on the top line with Rick Nash and Derick Brassard in the last series.
"He is working real hard," Vigneault said. "That line has had some good looks. Defensively, they have been very responsible. Obviously, when you are talking about Marty St. Louis, Rick Nash and Derick Brassard, you are thinking of three strong offensive players. Can we get a little more out of them? I think we need a little more out of our whole group.
"It's a race to four and we need everybody stepping up their game. Marty is no different."
Callahan practised without limitations Friday; his status is listed as day to day.
"I was told the recovery period is pretty quick, so ... each day seems to be getting better and better," Callahan said. "I'm going in the right direction."
Lightning coach Jon Cooper said whether Callahan plays may depend on his tolerance for pain.
"Those things are painful (according to) anyone who's ever had one," Cooper said. "But he's a pretty tough kid. So I would suspect he would come back."