There are trips that can mark lives, and for the Canadian, the one that is coming will probably not be that.
No, it won’t be that because no one really comes back excited about a detour to Winnipeg or somewhere in a field in North Carolina. On the other hand, this trip will undoubtedly mark the Canadian’s current season.
For what ? Because the results will undoubtedly be decisive for the future.
So, after Saturday night’s victory against the New York Islanders at the Bell Centre, during which everyone was surprised by this astonishing outcome—Joel Armia, Josh Anderson and Christian Dvorak all scoring on the same night, what are the odds ? —, the Canadian is embarking on the most complicated portion of his 2023-24 adventure.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Josh Anderson scored two goals against the New York Islanders on Saturday at the Bell Center.
After the first stop, Monday evening in Winnipeg, the team in blue, white and red will have to play six other games on the road, including the traditional stop at the Quebecers in Florida before we turn the pages of the calendar.
For a good little .500 team which, as of Sunday, remained just four points from a playoff spot, this is the kind of journey where the options are simplified: either it passes, or it breaks .
If we go back a little to a year ago, the Canadian had chosen option two, and in a very spectacular way at that. At the time of throwing the equipment bags and sticks on the plane on December 19, 2022, the Montreal club had a record of 14-15-2, which is very similar to this record of 13-13-4 that the club displays today.
CH started the trip a year ago with an overtime victory in Arizona, but then the train left the tracks quickly enough: after an overtime defeat in Colorado, the club lost the last five games of this trip, including a 9-2 romp at Washington on Dec. 31 to finish the year strong.
While all of Quebec was wondering if the Bye had been good or not (to this day, it is not very clear), the management of the Canadian, and the fans also undoubtedly, understood very well that the season was over, and that the time had already come to think about the following season.
A year later, the Canadian finds himself in exactly the same place, with a similar challenge looming before him.
As of Sunday, three of the seven clubs scheduled for this trip are part of the top 10 of the best teams in the general ranking of the National Hockey League, including the Winnipeg Jets, the first on the schedule, who have just won their last two games.
The Canadian will be able to return to his Bell Center on January 4, when the Buffalo Sabers will be visiting. The Canadiens’ leaders will no doubt be able to contemplate the future of things a little better from that evening onwards.
For now, a successful trip would allow the Canadian to stay in the race, and not have to make more difficult decisions. Conversely, a result similar to the trip a year ago could lead to other considerations, among others with the trade deadline (March 8), which will begin, in the distance, to loom tip of the nose.
But the Canadian is not there yet. In the immediate future, the sudden awakening of some big guns Saturday evening at the Bell Center at least allows the team and its fans to have a little more hope.