TORONTO — If the Toronto Maple Leafs are to end their regular-season drought against the Boston Bruins, they will have to do so without their captain.
Auston Matthews will be sidelined for Tuesday’s rematch against the fierce division rival due to an upper-body injury.
The superstar is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed ailment that coach Craig Berube asserts has nothing to do with the wrist injuries that have hampered him in the past.
Matthews finished Sunday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild without any obvious signs of injury, skating 22:12 and setting up Toronto’s lone power-play goal in the affair.
Berube revealed that Matthews — whose five goals and 11 points through 13 games is solid but hardly spectacular by his standards — has been fighting this injury, which has been lingering for “a little bit” of time.
“I think everybody just digs in more, and different players get a little different opportunity,” Berube said. “Everybody needs to elevate their game tonight. Not just because Auston isn’t in the lineup. Because we’re playing the Bruins. It’s going to be a good game and a hard game. We need everybody on board tonight.”
The timing of Matthews’ first absence of the season is hardly ideal, as the Bruins roll into town on the strength of back-to-back shutouts and an eight-game regular-season win streak against the Maple Leafs — who dropped both ends of their back-to-back over the weekend.
And yet the Leafs have been surprisingly effective in small stretches without their most potent scoring threat in the lineup.
Toronto owns a sparkling 35-19-2 regular-season record sans Matthews, and the Leafs won both Game 5 and Game 6 last spring against these Bruins when their No. 1 centre was sidelined in the playoffs.
“Everyone needs to step up. Take another step up, bring more intensity. Obviously, it’s big missing piece to our team, but we’ve done a good job of guys stepping up and playing bigger roles,” Mitch Marner said.
The biggest role goes to Max Domi, who is being tapped to centre Marner and sturdy sophomore Matthew Knies on Toronto’s top line.
“Very elusive. Very fast. Very smart thinker for out there,” Marner says of his ol’ London Knights teammate. “So, makes a lot of great plays.”
This season, most of Domi’s great plays came when he was partnered with William Nylander. The versatile forward got off to a strong start, posting six assists through his first six games.
Domi’s impact as a third-line centre, however, hasn’t resonated. He enters Tuesday’s action on a seven-game point drought in which he’s gone minus-4. He doesn’t have a goal this season.
A chance to play meaningful minutes with Marner and Knies is a significant opportunity for Domi to make an impact. Domi’s best hockey as a Leaf occurred during Marner’s injury last season, when he was promoted to the top line and found fast chemistry with Matthews.
“He’s been elite up there when he’s been playing with those guys,” Nylander said. “So, I’m excited for him tonight.”
With Matthews out, the Maple Leafs will abandon the five-forward power-play look that scored in Minnesota; Morgan Rielly rejoins the top unit.
Matthews’ vacated penalty-kill minutes could open a shot for Nylander to join the PK — a role he publicly petitioned for last week.
“He was a real good dual threat out there,” Marner says of Nylander. “He’s very smart out there. He knows what he’s doing. He knows what teams like to do on the power play as well.”
The Bruins (6-6-1) are off to an underwhelming start but arrive at Scotiabank Arena just one point behind the Leafs in the standings.
“They’re always ready to go when they play against us, so we gotta match their intensity and up it,” Domi said.
“We owe ’em.”
One-Timers: Anthony Stolarz gets the nod in net for the Maple Leafs, a reminder who is Berube’s Number 1 right now. Stolarz and Woll will split this weekend’s back-to-back against Detroit and Montreal…. What does Nylander expect from David Pastrnak after his friend got scratched for the third period Sunday? “A fired-up Pasta.”… Nylander smiled when thinking back to the blood-drawing high stick he delivered to his friend the last time these teams met: “Yeah, we texted a little bit, but it’s all good.”… Leaf killer Jeremy Swayman gets the start for Boston: “It all starts with the goalie.”… Boston’s Tyler Johnson makes his season debut, finally earning a contract via tryout.
Maple Leafs projected lineup Tuesday vs. Bruins:
Knies – Domi – Marner
Pacioretty – Tavares – Nylander
McMann – Holmberg – Robertson
Lorentz – Kämpf – Reaves
Rielly – Ekman-Larsson
McCabe – Tanev
Benoit – Timmins
Stolarz starts
Woll
