Auston Matthews will be unavailable to the Toronto Maple Leafs for at least three weeks due to a sprained knee. The center picked up the injury on Wednesday in the win against the New York Rangers (3-2 aet).
Matthews is the Maple Leafs’ third-best scorer with 53 points and the second-best goalscorer with 25 goals this season. He had previously missed the games on January 11 (2-1 v Nashville Predators) and January 12 (4-1 v Detroit Red Wings) earlier this month with an unspecified injury.
Matthews will also miss the 2023 NHL All-Star Weekend on February 3rd and 4th at Sunrise due to the knee problems. In the Atlantic Division selection for the Honda NHL All-Star Game, he is through Alexander Barkov replaced by the Florida Panthers.
[Ähnliches: Barkov in den NHL-All-Star-Kader für 2023 aufgenommen]
His teammate John Tavares wished Matthews a speedy recovery. “He’s an important part of our team. I hope he comes back as soon as possible. We’re going to pull together now and try to make up for the loss as best we can. I’m optimistic about that. We’ve had the whole season proved our roster has a lot of depth,” Toronto’s captain said Friday after the morning skate.
According to coach Sheldon Keefe, the recent injury has nothing to do with the injury from two weeks ago. “They’re different things. Unfortunately, we’ll be missing him for a while,” the coach regretted.
The Maple Leafs have three home games to play before the NHL All-Star break. The Ottawa Senators are the first opponents in the Scotiabank Arena this Friday. They host the Washington Capitals on Sunday and the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. After that, they won’t be back in the league until February 10th.