Auston Matthews Is Back: Toronto Maple Leafs vs Boston Bruins

The Toronto Maple Leafs are getting a huge boost ahead of tonight's game as Auston Matthews is returning to action after having missed six games with a mysterious injury that everyone seems to assume is his wrist but which has not in any way been confirmed.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Boston Bruins after playing, and beating, the sad-sack New Islanders in two straight games.

The Leafs are tied for first in the Atlantic and are 6-4 in their last ten, but that record is a little decieving because they haven't really played all that well, their goaltending has fallen off, and the victories are against weak teams - two wins each against Buffalo and the Islanders, plus one against Detroit as well. The only team the Leafs beat recently which was any good is Dallas, and the Leafs did not deserve to win that game.

Still, first place is first place, and with Matthews back the Leafs finally have a chance to build on their (so far, pretty lucky) results and turn this into a great season.

Then again, there is some debate on if they should even be playing Matthews, who has appereantly twice tried to play through pain this season. In my opinion, the Leafs should shut him down until he can be 100% and take as few risks as possible with their best player.

However, maybe that already happened, there is no way to know, beause of the secretive nature of the NHL when it comes to injuries.

Auston Matthews Is Back: Toronto Maple Leafs vs Boston Bruins

This is a pretty big game for the Bruins, who have played remarkably well since firing their coach after the first 20 games of the season. The Bruins are 3rd in the division and a win tonight against the Leafs would put them four points back.

A loss puts them eight out.

As you can see from the lineup above, the Leafs will be dressing a much better lineup tonight than they have recently. Obviously dressing Matthews is a big deal because it means no more David Kampf in the top six.

That said, I still have some notes about their lineup: Matthew Knies isn't even a top-six player at this point, and he's definitely no first liner. I think it's far past time that McMann and Robertson get ice time ahead of him. I think both those guys deserve some time with one of the Leafs three Franchise Players.

Also, Domi isn't a centre, let's get him onto the wing with Auston Matthews. It's crazy not to even try it after how successful it was.

The Leafs should also be splitting up their three franchise players and they should call up Alex Steeves who is overdue to be an NHL regular. However, their lineup is still decent and they should have no problem beating the Boston Bruins, especially with Matthews back.