Leafs Officially Announce Auston Matthews' Status for Tonight's Game Against the Red Wings
Photo credit: USA Today sports
Captain Auston Matthews will not play in tonight's game against Detroit, according to the Toronto Maple Leafs' official announcement.
After sustaining that upper-body injury on Tuesday, Auston Matthews has yet to hit the ice. Although the setback didn't appear to derail Toronto against the Bruins, Matthews' continued absence raises the possibility that this is more serious than a minor injury.
Then the question was whether he would be in the lineup for the game against Detroit on Friday or Montreal on Saturday. Naturally, a lot of people are curious about the extent of the captain's injury.
Although Matthews did not participate in Friday's Maple Leafs morning skate, coach Craig Berube stated that the forward might play on Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.
"We are going in the right direction, so that's good news," Berube said.
Nick Kypreos, a former Leafs player and analyst, believes Matthews should miss both games because Toronto cannot afford to worsen his injury.
"Something's bothering him, take two days off, take the weekend off. I think there's a chance he takes the weekend off. There's no number now you need to feel pressure to hit, that's the message. That's the #1 thing that made me say what I just said is that we need to be abundantly clear you're not coming back to feel like you need to produce a goal a game."
- Nick Kypreos
- Nick Kypreos
With just five goals this season, Matthews' start is certainly slower than the ones he has had in previous years, but coach Berube's new defensive role and plain bad luck are to blame for his decreased scoring.
Toronto's next challenge will be whether they can carry over their strong performance from the Bruins game into their encounter with the Detroit Red Wings at Scotiabank Arena. The puck drops at 7:00pm tonight at the Scotiabank Arena.
| POLL | ||
8 NOVEMBRE | 45 ANSWERS Leafs Officially Announce Auston Matthews' Status for Tonight's Game Against the Red Wings Will Auston Matthews play on Saturday against the Canadiens? | ||
| Yes | 15 | 33.3 % |
| No | 30 | 66.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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