The Washington Capitals won’t have to worry about defending Auston Matthews when the Toronto Maple Leafs face off against them, Wednesday night. Matthews will remain on injured reserve with an upper-body injury that has kept him out of the team’s last four games.
Per TSN’s Mark Masters, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube had no update on Matthews other than he didn’t skate ahead of the game. The club captain’s recovery has not progressed as fast as expected, leading to him missing a fifth game. Toronto has done well without him, though, posting a 3-1-0 record.
According to NHL insider Chris Johnston, Matthews’s best hope for a return is Saturday when the Maple Leafs host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
“The reality is that the schedule has done the Leafs no favors here,” Johnston told TSN 1050’s First Up. “With them playing tonight, that’s three sets of back-to-back games in basically a two-week stretch. I think that’s obviously just been busy for the guys that have been playing the games, and in Matthews’s case, it hasn’t allowed for as many days to get back up and running.
“Really, this is about a long-term decision. It helped, I think, that they won those first three games they played without him. It kinda bought time where the pressure wasn’t mounting around the situation, and he was less inclined to work his way back in. I guess the best hope now is you see him Saturday when the Oilers are in town.”
Matthews skated on Saturday for the first time in a week but hasn’t been on the ice since then. The 27-year-old pivot has 11 points (5g, 6a) in 13 games this season.
“[The injury] is just not getting to where it needs to get to,” Berube said Tuesday. “So, we’re just trying to manage it and just trying to make sure when he comes back, he’s good and 100 percent.”
Washington will be glad to see a game against Toronto without Matthews, as the superstar center has torn them up in the past. In 18 career games against the Capitals, Matthews has recorded 26 points (10g, 16a). He recorded a five-point game (2g, 3a) against the Caps last year, and the Maple Leafs won all three games against Washington with a combined score of 16-5.
