Despite Monday’s thrilling victory, the only question on the minds of Toronto Maple Leafs fans was: Is Auston Matthews ok?
It would seem that Matthews has dodged a bullet. He was never seen in a no-contact jersey and didn’t miss a practice. The Toronto Maple Leafs will not be without their best player tonight.
Matthews is playing tonight vs. the Calgary Flames after a close call Monday against Carolina.
Auston Matthews is currently the hottest player in the NHL with an absolutely mind-boggling 24 goals in his last 23 games. This is four more than anyone else in the NHL during this span, in two less games.
During this time Matthews also has 14 assists, giving him 38 points, and has averaged almost 5 shots per game, and over 5 scoring chances per game. Matthews would potentially lead the NHL in points over this time as well, but he has played six less games than the four players ahead of him.
Suffice to say, everyone reading this is happy that he is alright.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Calgary Flames
Not only is Matthews OK for tonight, but Jake Muzzin, who hasn’t played since January 15th due to a concussion, will also be suiting up tonight.
The only guy the Leafs will be missing is Wayne Simmonds. Simmonds’ situation isn’t due to injury, but to be with his family. He and his wife recently welcomed their second child to the world, so a big congratulations to the Simmonds family. We don’t know when the Leafs will have him back.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are dressing 7 defensemen tonight. We’ll see how this goes, but according to this tweet, Dermott was the odd man out:
#Leafs D-pairs at practice Feb. 9/22
— David Alter (@dalter) February 9, 2022
Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Sandin-Liljegren
Dermott
The Toronto Maple Leafs will go with Jack Campbell tonight, while the Flames will counter with Jacob Markstrum. The Flames are 11th overall in the NHL by points percentage, and are 7-3 in their last ten. (stats naturalstattrick.com).
The Leafs will be looking to win their seventh in a row tonight. Their current six-game winning streak is a season high, and they have also had three other five-game winning streaks. Mitch Marner will also be looking for his ninth game in a row with at least one goal. As you may know, they are also 24-3 in the last 27 games where Marner and Matthews both suited up.
In closing, the Leafs are- extremely lucky. Their superstar Center is fine, their very good Defenseman is coming back tonight and one of their players welcomed another child into the world.
I’d call that a solid few days.