Auston Matthews Avoids Injury During Leafs Morning Skate

According to David Alter who was at the Toronto Maple Leafs morning skate on Friday, forward Auston Matthews left the ice in some pain after blocking a shot during a drill in practice. At first, it looked like he was trying to gut it out to stay a part of the drills. Eventually, he had to leave and it doesn’t sound like he returned.

The good news is that head coach Sheldon Keefe said Matthews is “fine”. Still, it will be something Leafs Nation and those who cover the team watch closely.

Matthews has now departed. He was shaking out the left foot. pic.twitter.com/aET0w4U3XO

— David Alter (@dalter) November 18, 2022

Matthews got off to a slow start this season but has since begun to pick things up a little. With one goal in his first seven games, he’s now got seven goals in his last 11 games. Any setback would be devastating to the Leafs who are doing their best to stay in contention as they work through some injury issues and need their offense to outscore their defensive issues.

Leafs Nation watches Mattews so closely, there’s a whole storyline to the color of stick he’s been using in recent games and his flip-flopping between the white and black one and how lucky or unlucky it’s been. Needless to say, Matthews going down — which it looks like he will not miss any time — would be a disaster for the team. Matthews has eight goals and 19 points in 18 games this season.

If you’re playing NHL fantasy, you can breathe a sigh of relief and keep him in your lineup.

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