STANLEY CUP Ex-teammates set to battle in finals

Calgary's Jarome Iginla and Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis face off tonight.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- It wasn't long ago when Jarome Iginla and Martin St. Louis toiled together in obscurity with the Calgary Flames.
In four years they have become two of the NHL's biggest offensive threats. Soon, one will add Stanley Cup champion to his r & eacute;sum & eacute;.
Iginla has emerged into an NHL All-Star with the low-budget Flames, while St. Louis left Calgary in 2000 and established himself as a scoring champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tonight, they face off in the opener of the unlikeliest of Stanley Cup finals.
Leader
Iginla's first season as captain couldn't have gone any better. He tied for the league lead with 41 goals, led Calgary to its first playoff appearance in eight years, and has the Flames within four wins of the franchise's second championship.
Iginla is two years removed from his first goal title when he scored 52. With 17 playoff points this year, he trails only St. Louis.
"His statistics don't lie," St. Louis said. "From his junior career and all the way up to the NHL, he has been an impact on every team he's played on."
Before this season, the Lightning had never advanced past the second round. But with St. Louis, Tampa Bay had the best record in the East.
"You could see he was going to be a good player and he's developed to be a great player," Iginla said.
St. Louis had an NHL-best 94 points in the regular season and has added a league-high 18 in the first three playoff rounds.
A run like this is more than Iginla or St. Louis could've imagined in the two seasons they spent as Calgary teammates.
Career takes off
St. Louis had one goal and one assist in 13 games in his rookie season and followed that with three goals and 15 assists in 56 games during the 1999-00 campaign.
Any team could've had him after that.
"I truly think it worked out for me in Calgary," St. Louis said. "I wasn't drafted. I had nothing. Here's a team that gave me an opportunity to reach my dream and I relished that. I loved it. I was playing more of a checking role, but if that was the role that was going to bring me to the NHL or stay in the NHL, that's what I was going to do."
The run-and-gun, go-for-it style employed by Lightning coach John Tortorella has been perfect for the quick St. Louis. He isn't a checker anymore and harbors no ill will for the Flames.
"I moved on and I mean, who would have thought that we would all be here now?" he said.
Certainly not Iginla. The Flames are a low-budget team that isn't expected to be able to compete with the big-city teams with the overflowing payrolls. Iginla's expanding contract made him a prime candidate to be dealt to one of the fat cats.
"To be honest, I have to pinch myself," Iginla said. "It is the Stanley Cup finals, one of only two teams left. The only Canadian team left.
"I am a fan myself, and wondered which team was going to be back and hoped it would be us."