In January, when the Maple Leafs allowed three goals or less in 12 straight games, Francois Allaire was getting lots of praise for the club’s improved goaltending.

On Wednesday, Allaire was trying to protect his reputation and that of the struggling James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson.

With neither stopper playing well of late and Toronto’s playoff hopes taking a hit, the reknowned instructor assured that both young goalies would get through these “bumps” in their career. Gustavsson allowed a terrible overtime winner on Tuesday night against the Devils that compounded some iffy goals in regulation.

“We have two young kids in the net, not a lot of experience,” Allaire reminded reporters at the MasterCard Centre. “Nobody has more than 90 games in the NHL, so that is normal, sometimes you get some bumps in the road. And we are right in the middle of it.”

Gustavsson and Reimer came out on their own prior to the main Leaf workout and after barely a half hour of 2-on-2 scoring drills with the two nets only 50 feet apart, the whole practice was terminated so as not to dwell too much on the previous evening’s events. Toronto is in a slump of 1-5-1, with both goalies culpable.

“We will see if we are strong enough to get through,” said Allaire. “The guys are working extremely hard. Jonas came back today and is working hard and is a guy who never gets discouraged. That is a good sign, a guy wants to keep going, to be persistent.

“The good news is right now we have two guys who are over .500, they have save percentages over .900 and we are still in the playoffs.”

Coach Ron Wilson dismissed the notion of calling up farmhands Jussi Rynnas, Ben Scrivens or Mark Owuya, for reasons of roster juggling more than anything else. He would not commit to a starter for Thursday’s home game against San Jose, though it would appear to be Reimer’s turn. Reimer made 40 saves in a 4-2 win against Wilson’s old team last year.

Joffrey Lupul, who looked very slow against the Devils, was given a maintenance day by Wilson, as was Matthew Lombardi and defenceman John-Michael Liles.

The Sharks aren’t impressing many teams these days, stuck in a four-game losing streak on this long road trip. But they’ve already banked 69 points and have a share of the Pacific Division lead.