TORONTO -- Auston Matthews has an upper-body injury and will not play when the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Boston Bruins at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, NESN).
The forward and Maple Leafs captain is day to day. He had one assist and three shots in 22:12 in Toronto’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
“He’s been fighting through it a little bit, so obviously he’s out tonight,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said after the morning skate Tuesday. “[It has been lingering] a little bit.”
Berube confirmed it’s not related to a wrist injury that bothered Matthews in the past and led him to having surgery during the 2021 offseason.
Max Domi replaced Matthews at center on a line with left wing Matthew Knies and right wing Mitch Marner at the morning skate.
“No different than any other game,” Domi said. “We have guys who will have to step up, and Auston is such a big part of our team. But that’s how it goes -- it’s 82 games and you’re not going to have your full lineup for all 82 of those, so [we’ve] got to get used to that.”
Center John Tavares replaced Matthews on a power-play unit with defenseman Morgan Rielly and Marner, Knies and forward William Nylander.
Matthews has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 13 games this season. Toronto (6-5-2), which is third in the Atlantic Division, is 35-19-2 all-time when Matthews has been unavailable. He missed two games in the Eastern Conference First Round last season because of an illness and undisclosed injury, and one game during the regular season because of the flu.
“Everybody just digs in more,” Berube said. “Different players get different opportunities in a situation like this whether it’s more minutes, they’re on the power play … they elevate their game and everybody needs to elevate their game tonight, not just because Auston is out of the lineup but because we are playing the Bruins.
“It’s going to be a good game, a hard game, and we need everybody on board tonight.”
