TORONTO — Auston Matthews will miss Friday’s Toronto-Edmonton game after suffering a minor injury when the teams met earlier this week.
His absence is believed to be precautionary and isn’t expected to be long-term. Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe called it “upper-body soreness.”
The team will be down two-thirds of their top line for the rematch against the Oilers with Joe Thornton also out with a rib fracture that will sideline him for four weeks.
Matthews played 24:04 during Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to Edmononton and scored the Leafs’ only goal. He drew the matchup with Connor McDavid, and Toronto generated 60 per cent of the shot attempts during the 12 minutes where they went head-to-head at 5-on-5.
That matchup will likely fall to captain John Tavares in the return meeting.
“I think everyone has to find ways to elevate,” said Tavares.
Matthews briefly took the ice before Thursday’s practice and departed early, and didn’t take part in an optional skate at Scotiabank Arena on Friday morning. He is believed to have tweaked something while engaging in a battle with Jesse Puljujarvi during Wednesday’s game.
Toronto sets out on a four-game road trip this weekend, with two games in Calgary and another two in Edmonton.
Matthews has two goals and five points so far this season, and has delivered the strongest underlying results among Leafs forwards by generating 66 per cent of even-strength shot attempts and a 62 per cent expected goals rate.
He dressed for all 70 of the team’s games last season.
