The story lines are deep and plentiful heading into Game 5 Tuesday night. Derek Stepan's broken jaw. Brandon Prust's hit and suspension. Chris Kreider's slide into Canadiens goalie Carey Price. Dan Carcillo's tussle with a linesman. Assistants "spying" on the other team.
But how about digging this one up:
Captain for captain. The Rangers' Ryan Callahan for the Lightning's Martin St. Louis. It was like an odd twist in a reality TV show.
The twist is paying off.
What's reality now is the New York Rangers are one win away from their first Stanley Cup finals appearance in 20 years. The 3-1 series lead is largely due to St. Louis and his overtime game-winner against the Canadiens Sunday night.
"If I'm going to bet on one guy to score in overtime, it's going to be him," said Derick Brassard, who scored goal No. 2 for the Rangers late in the second period in his first game back from injury. It was a one-on-one shot in a game that felt at times like the Habs were stationary foosball players unable to pick up on defense, a serious problem with the speed the Rangers have shown since Game 1.
St. Louis' winner was another open shot and a perfect position on the net, a choice he said he made from "trusting his instincts."
"Vigneault said winning shot by St. Louis was 'exactly what you see him practice.' St. Louis works on that shot at every practice." tweeted NHL writer Dan Rosen.
"Hagelin was surprised at how open St. Louis was. Staal said everyone on NYR bench stood when MSL got the puck. 'Top cheese,' Hagelin said." — Rosen.
St. Louis leads the Rangers with six goals and seven assists over 18 games this postseason and has had plenty of chances to strengthen those numbers, but solid goaltending has prevented it.
Habs rookie Dustin Tokarski kept St. Louis out of the box score earlier in Game 4 on a similar run to the net:
Don't forget about the save in Game 3, either:
St. Louis' four career playoff overtime winners is tied for tops among active players along with Patrick Marleau, Patrick Kane and Jaromir Jagr. Which is exactly why the Rangers wanted — and needed — the 14-year-veteran in the first place.
Callahan was home-grown, taken in the fourth round of the 2004 draft and hailing from Rochester, N.Y. He was a great guy to have, but an expensive one going forward and the Rangers had to make the best choice in order to find a way to win. Fans had a hard time dealing with the trade-deadline deal that included giving away two first-round picks, but have completely turned the attitude around, adding to the Henrik Lundqvist love affair with enthusiastic tweets of "MARTTYYYYY" flooding timelines throughout the playoffs.
It'd be wrong to not acknowledge here that New York fans have also opened their arms up even wider following the loss of St. Louis' mother. The team has gone on a 6-1 run since being down 3-1 to the Rangers and learning of the sudden passing of France St. Louis. But this is still New York, and Marty is producing.
And the Rangers are indeed winning. The penalty kill is good, the goaltending is good (c'mon, this is Lundqvist we're talking about here) and the Rangers are finally putting goals on the scoreboard behind leader St. Louis.
“There are a lot of contenders right now,” General Manager Glen Sather said back in March after the trade. “Hopefully, this is going to put us over the edge, and it’s going to make us a little closer to achieving our goal.”
Just a few more puzzle pieces to go, thanks to newly beloved New Yorker, Marty St. Louis.