Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews will not be available for tonight’s game due to an upper body injury.
Maple Leafs F Auston Matthews is not available for tonight’s game and is day-to-day (upper body).
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) November 5, 2024
He is listed as day-to-day at this time, though it is unclear if Matthews will be ready for their next game on Friday against the Detroit Red Wings.
The exact moment that caused the injury is not known at the time of filing, as he was able to finish both games over the weekend against the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild respectively. A possible instance that may have aggravated something was on this play against the Wild where he went down hard on the ice and took a moment or two to get back up.
Matthews was close to getting at that rebound pic.twitter.com/E9cM0LCuKf
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 4, 2024
This injury is a major setback in what has been a slow start to the season by Matthews’ standards. With five goals and 11 points through the first 13 games, he is currently on pace for only 32 goals. It would be the lowest total he has ever had in a season and the worst since his sophomore campaign when he tallied 34 goals.
Considering this comes on the heels of a 69-goal season and he is months removed from being named the 26th captain in franchise history, this sluggish start from Matthews is certainly a surprise. Granted, he is operating at an 8.9 shooting percentage and the Leafs’ power play has been anemic to begin the season so those two areas are bound to improve which should help get the captain back on track offensively.
With Matthews unavailable, Max Domi is getting the callup to the top line alongside Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies for tonight’s game. This will also impact the power-play lines with William Nylander likely being given the responsibilities of being the shooter on the top unit.
Here is how the forward lines look in the wake of Matthews being out for tonight’s game:
Matthew Knies-Max Domi-Mitch Marner
Max Pacioretty-John Tavares-William Nylander
Bobby McMann-Pontus Holmberg-Nick Robertson
Steven Lorentz-David Kampf-Ryan Reaves
There were no changes made to the defence pairings and Anthony Stolarz is projected to get the nod against the Bruins.
