Auston Matthews is nearing a return to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ lineup, but the sniper won’t play on Wednesday night against the Florida Panthers, The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reported.
“It doesn’t sound like Auston Matthews is quite ready to return to the Leafs lineup tonight,” wrote the hockey insider. “Still needs a few more skates to get back up to speed. Saturday’s game in Tampa remains a possibility.”
Matthews participated in his first full practice with the Leafs on Tuesday, but it looks like No. 34 will miss his ninth straight game on the road in Florida.
“I felt pretty good, so we will just take it step by step,” Matthews said after the session, per NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy. “I don’t know, we’ll see. I’ll get with the training staff and chat some more. The individual skates are much different than a team practice, so this being the first actual team practice I skated in, I felt really good.
“But I might need maybe one or two [practices] to really get my legs and lungs back under me, but we will just kind of see how I respond today and see how it goes tomorrow.”
Matthews last played on November 3, leaving early in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild. He’s been skating on his own after returning from a five-day trip to Germany to visit a specialist. Matthews centered a line with Pontus Holmberg and William Nylander at practice.
“I thought it was great,” Matthews told McCarthy. “I thought we were moving the puck really well, keeping it simple for the most part. They’re both really good players, and I just might have to learn some Swedish to communicate better with them. I thought today we gelled really well in practice. They’re great players, easy to play with.”
There haven’t been any details revealed about Matthews’ injury, but both he and head coach Craig Berube have confirmed it isn’t related to a wrist injury he had surgery on in 2021. Without the American, the Leafs have been on a tear, winning four games in a row and seven of eight to vault into first place in the Atlantic Division.
Leafs are on a tear without Auston Matthews
The Leafs have been superb as of late, with the offense humming and both Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll providing something Toronto has lacked for years — excellent goaltending. They’re 7-1 without Matthews this season and 42-20-2 all-time without the sniper.
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Wednesday night against the defending Stanley Cup champions will be a terrific test for the roster, especially as the Panthers are just three points back of the Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division.
The silver lining to Matthews not playing is that he will likely return to the lineup on Saturday; Berube thinks he just needs to go through a couple more practices.
“Yeah, it was good having him out there. He looked really good and got through practice no problem. A lot of good signs pointing in the right direction. [But] the tricky part is practice, right?” the bench boss said. “The first day he looked fine and felt fine, but not having a lot of practice time, it’s a little concerning.”
The Leafs will look to continue their hot streak at Amerant Bank Arena, and it could be the last game the team plays without Matthews involved.