Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews shoots against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn., on Nov 3.Brace Hemmelgarn/Reuters
Auston Matthews will return to the Maple Leafs lineup on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning after an absence of 27 days.
The star centre suffered an undisclosed injury on Nov. 3 and has been to Germany and back as he sought treatment.
“It’s not fun watching,” Matthews said Friday after practice in the Fort Lauderdale suburbs. The team later flew cross-state to Tampa. “It killed me not to be out there. The guys have been playing really well. I think it is a sign of great things to come.”
Toronto went 7-2 while Matthews was on the injured-reserve list and leads the NHL’s Atlantic Division by one point over the Florida Panthers. The Stanley Cup defending champions beat the Maple Leafs 5-1 on Wednesday.
As of Friday Boston and Tampa rounded out the No. 3 and No. 4 positions in the division. Does that sound and look familiar? Same four foes battling it out again, and not a lot of room for Buffalo, Detroit or Ottawa to bump someone out.
Matthews had five goals and six assists in 13 games when he was hurt during a contest in Minnesota. Toronto called it an upper-body injury and Matthews declined to be more specific after skating with his teammates on Friday.
“I don’t think there has really been any secrecy,” he said. “It’s my choice when it comes to what I share about an injury. We didn’t do anything outside the rules. I think it got blown out of proportion because of the marketplace. It has been made out to be a bigger deal than it is.”
Toronto overtook Florida for first place despite missing Matthews and four other forwards because of injury or suspension. Matthew Knies, who sustained an upper-body injury last week, will likely also return against Tampa Bay.
Matthews and Knies practised on the first line with William Nylander. Pontus Holmberg, John Tavares and Mitch Marner were on the second line.
“I was very proud of the guys for the way they played recently,” Leafs head coach Craig Berube said. “We had guys from the minors playing and they did a really good job.
“It’s great to have Auston back. He’s the captain of the team and we missed him. I look forward to it.”
Toronto has done well under the circumstances. The NHL season reached its first milestone on Thursday with U.S. Thanksgiving.
Usually by now the standings are a pretty good indication of which teams are going to reach the playoffs and which ones are the biggest turkeys.
Thirteen of 16 teams that were in a playoff position at this time a year ago made it. The one very notable exception was the Edmonton Oilers, who stumbled badly but then went on a remarkable run and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final.
There are always surprises – good and bad – and we’ll address a few of them.
The most pleasant surprise in the league is the Jets, who entered Friday atop the Western Conference standing with an 18-5 record. To be fair, Winnipeg almost always punches above its weight but a jackrabbit start was unexpected.
With a Vézina Trophy-winning goalie in Connor Hellebuyck, a strong defence and scoring throughout the lineup, the Jets look poised to play into late June.
The Maple Leafs are first but it is hard to call that a shock. Possibly frightened to death of a hard-nosed new coach in Berube, they have played much better on defence than in a long while and have received quality goaltending from Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll.
How will at all end? Well, of course, Toronto turns into a pumpkin in the post-season but it is sitting as well as could be expected as December draws near.
The now Alex Ovechkin-less Capitals started fast but, with a leg fracture, the Great 8 might not resume his chase of Wayne Gretzky’s career goal record for a month or more. Washington was a tad forgotten about by pundits and is usually a sure thing when it comes to the playoffs.
The Oilers started a bit better than last year but as of Friday were still not in a playoff position. The Flames have been a good surprise, Sheldon Keefe has the New Jersey Devils playing better than anticipated, and the Nashville Predators are lousy even after signing Steven Stamkos.
The next milestone will come in about six weeks or so. For now Toronto is in a good place and Matthews is back.
“I’m not nervous, it’s more of an excitement just to be out there,” he said. “I didn’t forget how to play hockey in three weeks. There will be a little bit of rust but I am excited to be back out there and playing again.”