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Auston Matthews is unlikely to play for the Maple Leafs in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins because of an undisclosed injury that’s kept him out the last two games.
While coach Sheldon Keefe said that Matthews is “progressing,” he made it sound like the Leafs would play a third straight potential elimination game without their best player.
“As of right now, we’re proceeding as we’ve been,” Keefe said.
Matthews took part in Toronto’s morning skate but was on the ice for only 15 minutes and still looked limited physically. The team didn’t show any potential line combinations with their drills.
The Leafs have already shown in this series that they can win without Matthews. They beat the Bruins in Games 5 and 6, facing elimination, without him. It took terrific efforts from Joseph Woll in goal, stiff defending, timely goals, and discipline; the Leafs took only a single penalty each in the two victories that pulled them out of a 3-1 series hole. They won both games by 2-1.
“They fought,” Keefe said after the Game 6 win in Toronto. “They didn’t lay down. They didn’t accept their fate. They changed it.”
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The Leafs are 3-0 without Matthews this season.
Given the highly secretive nature of how teams operate during the Stanley Cup playoffs, specific details about what is ailing Matthews are difficult to come by.
What is known is that the 26-year-old played through illness in Games 3 and 4 before suffering an injury on an innocuous hit while playing sick, according to league sources. Team doctors removed Matthews from the lineup during the second intermission of Game 4, and he was unable to participate in a full team skate again until Saturday morning.
Game 7 will be played at TD Garden in Boston at 8 p.m. ET.
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(Photo: Brian Fluharty / USA Today)
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Courtesy : https://theathletic.com/5471522/2024/05/04/auston-matthews-maple-leafs-bruins-game-7-status/