The Bell Center looked festive that night. The former star goalkeeper came out to greet the crowd one last time before getting back to business, the world was in high spirits on all fronts and most importantly the Canadian had the evening with a 4-3 win completed the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Here’s a bit of what Martin St-Louis had to say after all that.

“We arrived here and there were a lot of emotions,” explained the coach then. I can’t wait to see the youngsters leave once the routine has settled. There you get into the arena, you’re excited as soon as you arrive, but when the routine sets in, the emotion subsides a little. I’m curious how they will behave then. »

This time is not bad now.

There’s no doubt Canadians are living their worst moments of the season, and it’s far from just about the youngsters. The results say it very well; The club have just lost five of their last seven games and have had to settle for two goals on four occasions in that less than glorious period.

Martin St-Louis mentioned the presence of “passengers” after Thursday night’s game at the Bell Center, and the numbers back him up. Among those who should be big guns but aren’t are veterans: Joel Armia (no goal in 19 games), Jonathan Drouin (no goal in 14 games but he has at least 5 assists to his credit) or Evgenii Dadonov (2 goals in 26 games).

Not counting those who should be a bit more visible, including Josh Anderson, who has eight goals on the clock but also has the ability to disappear for long periods of time.

offer players?

Which brings us to the upcoming program, which despite a trip to Florida will not be a day at the beach. After Saturday night’s game at Bell Center against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Canadians will need to pack their bags for a seven-straight-road challenge, with the final stop scheduled for Nashville on Jan. 3.

The outcome of this trip will determine what happens at the Bell Center and we can expect that a difficult performance during these seven meetings could lead to several internal questions.

This season the trading deadline is March 3rd. March 3rd is still a long way off, but not that far for a changing club. In this regard, it’s not out of the question to consider that several players could end up in the proverbial showcase, ready to be offered to the rest of the league. In the heights of Bell Center too, we’ll soon start measuring attendance to find out which scout from which club is lurking there.

Glass half full, nevertheless: Before the games on Friday night, the Canadian was still in the playoff portrait, only five points away from the last available place in the Eastern Conference.

It remains to be seen if the dream will still be possible in the coming days… or if reality has hit hard.