The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without Auston Matthews for at least one game.
Matthews will miss Tuesday’s game against the Boston Bruins with an undisclosed upper-body injury that head coach Craig Berube said had been lingering “a little bit” but was not a wrist issue. The team listed his status as day to day.
In other words, it’s possible he misses more than one game.
“Everybody just needs to do their job,” Berube said. “I don’t think you focus on, ‘Well, Auston’s not playing, so what are we gonna do?’ We’ve got a good team, got good players, and people are going to get a little different look tonight in situations, lines, things like that.”
Maple Leafs F Auston Matthews is not available for tonight’s game and is day-to-day (upper body).
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) November 5, 2024
The Leafs have lost eight straight regular-season games to the Bruins.
Matthews’ absence leaves a gigantic void, on multiple fronts, in the Leafs lineup.
This will test the team’s already fragile centre depth.
Max Domi will slide into Matthews’ spot in the middle of the No. 1 line. Domi filled the same role last spring when an injury knocked Matthews out for Games 5 and 6 against the Bruins.
“Max has been in this situation before here,” Berube said. “I wasn’t here, but I watched it. Max has been around a long time. He’s a good player. He’s the type of player that relishes that type of thing.”
Domi has been centring the third line of late, and struggling to produce. He’s gone the last six games without a point.
Pontus Holmberg will move back to centre the third unit in Domi’s place.
The Leafs could have moved John Tavares up to play alongside Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies instead of Domi. Tavares, however, has found some chemistry of late with Max Pacioretty and William Nylander.
That trio figures to assume a slightly heavier load in Matthews’ absence.
Berube will have to decide whether he wants Tavares’ line or the one centered by Domi to take on the Bruins’ top line of Brad Marchand, Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak.
After deploying a five-forward unit in Minnesota on Sunday night, the Leafs will re-insert Morgan Rielly back onto the No. 1 power-play unit with Matthews out.
David Kämpf may see his penalty-killing duties expand. Matthews has played on the No. 1 PK unit with Marner for most of the season. It’s possible Nylander, who hasn’t killed penalties at all this season, rejoins the unit as well.
Matthews played in 81 regular-season games last season, missing only a December game against Pittsburgh with illness. The Leafs won that game 7-0.
Matthews was off to a bumpy start offensively this season, scoring only five goals, with six assists, in the first 13 games. Perhaps that’s at least partly explained by the injury.
The Leafs have lost two straight and five of their last seven games.
(Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn / Imagn Images)
