“Minor injury” – Auston Matthews unable to participate in the Leafs’ victory over the Islanders on Sunday night
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Auston Matthews
Auston Matthews was unable to participate in Sunday’s game against the New York Islanders. But nonetheless, the Toronto Maple Leafs triumphed over the Islanders 4-2 at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday night. The Leafs set a franchise record for the most wins and the most points in a season even without their star player.
Auston Matthews is reported to be nursing an undisclosed ‘minor injury’ and did not play for the Leafs against the Islanders. The Leafs won 50 games for the first time, overcoming the team record of 49 sets in 2017-2018. Plus having 106 points shadowing the 105-point record set 4-years ago. The Leafs are at 5-1-0 in 2021-22, in six games without Matthews, as recorded in torontosun.com.
Leafs’ win over Islanders without Matthews
Auston Matthews suffered an injury during the game against Ottawa Senators on Saturday in a 4-5 overtime victory. John Tavares will replace Matthews until he’s back on ice. Matthews who is in his 6th NHL season with a league-high of 58 goals and 102 points in 70 games, will need only 2 goals for his 60-goal season.
Maple Leafs’ coach Sheldon Keefe said, “It’s really out of an abundance of caution. We’ll give him the day off and reassess him from there.”
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He wasn’t too concerned about Matthews’ injury stating that,
“Something last night, consider it pretty minor at this point, but given the back to back, quick turnaround, we’re going to give him the night off,”
It’s the 6th game this season that Matthews was absent. Jack Campbell, Leafs’ goalie said,
“It’s hard to replace an Auston, I don’t know if you can”. “No disrespect to anybody else, but he does so many world-class things. He just means so much to our dressing room, on the ice and off the ice. But man, what a great opportunity it was for everybody to step up without him tonight, and I thought everybody battled super hard and got a big win.”
Toronto Maple Leafs is 2nd in Atlantic Division with 50-20-6 points. The Leafs are currently 6 points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Toronto Maple Leafs will host the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
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Kaushani Chatterjee
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