The Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Boston Bruins and will have to do so without their top player as Auston Matthews is injured and will not play.
While the Toronto Maple Leafs are off to an identical start as last year it has been a disappointing beginning to the year as they sit with a 6-5-2 record which puts them in the third position in the Atlantic Division one point ahead of their Tuesday night opponents, the Boston Bruins.
Tuesday morning, the Leafs PR account tweeted out that "Maple Leafs F Auston Matthews is not available for tonight’s game and is day-to-day (upper body)."
The newly appointed captain is off to the worst start of his career; after kicking off the season with three pointless games, he recorded goals in three straight, however, has just two goals in his last seven games, one of those being into an empty net. To avoid panic, remember that his shooting percentage is way, way down from his career norm and the coach has him killing penalties and starting a ton in the defensive zone.
The 2016 first overall pick has battled injuries his entire career and has played every game in a season just twice over his career, once being the 70-game COVID shortened 2019-20 season and the other being his rookie year. In 2023-24, he was able to escape the regular season almost unscathed as he missed just one game, however, missed a pair of games in the first round series loss the the Bruins last spring.
Toronto Maple Leafs to take on Boston Bruins without Auston Matthews
In total, Matthews has missed 56 games over his career and according to StatMuse.com his teammates have posted a 35-19-2 record without his assistance. You can look at this injury in one of two ways, the first being the cup half full, which is that the team who is struggling will be forced to come together to make up for the loss of having him out of the line-up.
Each player will have to step up in someway and no player took advantage of a similar opportunity last year like Bobby McMann when he was late addition to the line-up after another player was a last minute scratch. McMann would go on to score a hattrick and went on a run that secured him a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract. This could be an opportunity for someone in the bottom six to jump up and show they can take their game to another level.
The second way of looking at this, is the cup half empty. The Maple Leafs are struggling to find a second line center and are now finding themselves without a first line center. At morning skate, Max Domi was centering the top line, with Pontus Holmberg center the third line with Bobby McMann and Nicholas Robertson flanking him. It could either be an ugly night or something that can pull the team together going forward.
Having Max Domi at centre is never a good idea, having him at 1C is a disaster. The Matthews injury - even if it's brief - will put the Leafs need for centres into stark relief.
Anthony Stolarz will get the net for the Leafs tonight.